Royal York Hotel, York

Another busy day saw me driving to York for a one day conference. Unfortunately I had anticipated during the plenary sessions catching up on my blip friends but with no wifi I had to listen to the speakers! I have been to this hotel for events many times and always love returning to York on any excuse though today saw little of it apart from the building itself. A little of its history!

The Royal York Hotel is an historic Grade II listed building adjacent to York railway station. It is a five-storey building of yellow Scarborough brick and was completed in 1878, a year after the present station opened. It opened on 20 May 1878 as the Royal Station Hotel, York. The architect was William Peachey of the North Eastern Railway. The hotel was designed as an integral part of the new station and the North Eastern Railway Company's flagship hotel, and as such was managed directly by the railway company. It featured elegant, high-ceilinged banqueting rooms and 100 large bedrooms costing 14 shillings a night.
Under Mrs Thatcher's government ancillary activities of the railways were privatised and this included British Transport Hotels. The sale was held by public tender. The sale inventory dated October 1982 is held by the National Railway Museum at York.

Enjoy your weekend. I am out tonight for a meal and then off to a gathering in Leicester tomorrow for the friends of the Prostate Cancer online support group.