The Royal Victoria Hotel
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| The Royal Victoria Hotel | |
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| General information | |
| Location | St Marys street Newport, Shropshire |
| Opening | 1832 |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 25 |
| Number of restaurants | 2 |
| Parking | yes |
| Website | |
| http://home.btconnect.com/theroyalvictoriahotel/ | |
| Built in the Regency style | |
The Royal Victoria Hotel is a hotel situated in Newport, Shropshire. It dates back to 1830 and gains its name from Queen Victoria who opened the hotel in 1832 and who gifted the hotel with a pair of tortoise shells to commemorate the opening. The building has been extended over time and now operates as a hotel, bar and restaurant.
History
It was originally called the Union, and built on the site of the Bear Inn. Local people subscribed to the building project of the new Union, which was to be the principal hotel in the town, built with the fashionable five bays and two and a half storeys surmounted by a very shallow pediment of the period. The first manager was William Liddle who came from the Red Lion in Winchester. It was renamed in 1832 after the Princess Victoria visited it and she herself declared that it would now be called 'The Royal Victoria Hotel'
The hotel grew to the rear after the demolition of the factories and workhouses, which were built along the back of the hotel.
The hotel grew further with the building of a ballroom and cocktail bar in 1910. A second entrance from Water Lane was created for the use of people coming from the canal area, with Newport being on the main route to North Wales and Ireland. Many notable people stayed in the hotel over the years, but sadly a fire in 1974 destroyed most of the photographs and memorabilia, but it is believed that among the names to stay in the hotel where James Hain Friswell, Oliver Lodge and Charles Stewart Parnell.