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British Transport Hotels

British Transport Hotels (BTH) was the hotels and catering business of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain.

History

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Origins of the company

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Britain's private railway companies pioneered the concept of the railway hotel, initially at locations such as London Euston and Birmingham Curzon Street where hotels were opened at the start of trunk railway operation in 1839. Most of the railway companies followed suit, and by 1913 there were 93 railway owned hotels. After grouping, the policies of the 'big four' railway companies differed considerably: the LMS and LNER, which had the longest routes, were the most enthusiastic.

Railway-owned hotels
at nationalisation in 1948
CompanyHotelsBedroomsGuests
LMS262,429748,765
LNER172,328449,355
GWR4336136,307
SR222475,000

The Hotels Executive (1948–53)

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The list of Hotels Executive properties, 1952

At the nationalisation of transport in Great Britain on 1 January 1948, and the establishment of the British Transport Commission, hotels and catering came under the control of BTC's Railway Executive. However, on 1 July 1948 they were separated from direct railway control and placed under British Transport Commission's Hotels Executive, chaired by Lord Inman, who was later succeeded by Sir Harry Methven. At this point the Hotels Executive acquired 55 hotels and 400 station refreshment rooms, along with various golf courses, tennis courts, laundries, wine cellars, bottling stores and even a farm (at St Ives in Cornwall).

British Transport Hotel and Catering Services (1953–63)

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The Conservative government elected in 1951 sought to alter the structure of the British Transport Commission and its subsidiaries. One consequence was that the Hotels Executive was abolished on 19 August 1953, and the BTC took direct control, establishing a "Hotel and Catering Services Division" to run them. Sir Harry Methven, the last Chairman of the Hotels Executive, became a member of the BTC.

British Transport Hotels Ltd (1963–83)

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In 1962 the BTC was abolished, and its rail businesses were transferred to the newly established British Railways Board. The BRB Chairman, Richard Beeching, argued for the retention of the hotels within the BRB's rail portfolio, and BTH Ltd was established to manage them. The intention was to give BTH a high degree of autonomy, including bringing in outside expertise in the hotel business to the BTH board. The Railways Act 1968 empowered BTH to expand beyond the railway estate, and the company considered opening a number of new hotels. In the event only one such hotel was opened – the Old Course at St Andrews – in 1968, before the Conservative government elected in 1970 stopped further expansion. The remainder of the hotel estate was rationalised: the 34 hotels inherited by BTH had been reduced to 29 by 1979.

The end (1983–84)

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Following the victory of the Conservative Party at the 1979 general election, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the deteriorating economic situation, pressure was put on nationalised industries such as British Rail to consider asset disposal. It was not long before the BTH hotels were under review. The management at the time, led by Peter Land, tried to establish a viable structure for a management buyout, which would have kept the group more or less intact and would have delivered a smooth transfer to the private sector. As Peter Land notes in his book Sauce Supreme, politics rendered this plan impossible and the hotels were sold by open tender, realising a much lower value for the UK taxpayer than the management buyout would have done.[1] By 1984, the disposal was complete and the history of BTH was at an end.

List of hotels in 1948

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The British Transport Commission took over the following hotels from the big four railway companies in 1948:

NameLocationSubsequent history
From the Great Western Railway
Fishguard Bay HotelFishguard(sold 1950, closed 2020)
Grand Pump Room HotelBath(sold 1956, now demolished)
Great Western Royal HotelPaddington, London(sold 1983, still operating, now known as Hilton London Paddington)
Manor House HotelMoretonhampstead, Devon(sold 1983, still operating, now known as Bovey Castle)
Tregenna Castle HotelSt Ives, Cornwall(sold 1983, still operating)
From the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Adelphi HotelLiverpool(sold 1983, still operating)
Caledonian HotelEdinburgh(sold 1981, still operating, at the former Caledonian Railway's Princes Street station)
Central HotelGlasgow(sold 1983, still operating, now known as the voco Grand Central Hotel)
Crewe Arms HotelCrewe(sold 1952, closed 2021)
Dornoch HotelDornoch(sold 1965, still operating)
Euston HotelLondon(closed and demolished 1963)
Exchange HotelLiverpool(closed 1971)
Gleneagles HotelAuchterarder(sold 1981, still operating)
Highland HotelStrathpeffer(sold 1958, still operating)
Lochalsh HotelKyle of Lochalsh(sold 1983, still operating)
Midland HotelBradford(closed 1975, reopened 1993)
Midland HotelDerby(sold 1983, still operating)
Midland HotelManchester(sold 1983, still operating)
Midland HotelMorecambe(sold 1952, subsequently closed. Reopened in 2008)
North Stafford HotelStoke-on-Trent(sold 1953, still operating)
Park HotelPreston(sold 1950, closed)
Queen's HotelBirmingham(closed 1965)
Queen's HotelLeeds(sold 1984, still operating)
St Enoch HotelGlasgow(closed and demolished 1974)
Station HotelAyr(sold 1951, closed 2012)
Station HotelDumfries(sold 1972, still operating)
Station HotelHolyhead(closed 1951, demolished late 1970s.)
Station HotelInverness(sold 1983, still operating - now named the Royal Highland Hotel)
Station HotelPerth(sold 1983, operated until 2022 as Radisson Blu Perth)
Turnberry HotelTurnberry(sold 1983, still operating)
Welcombe HotelStratford-upon-Avon(sold 1983, still operating)
From the London and North Eastern Railway
Cruden Bay HotelPort Erroll(sold 1951, closed)
Felix HotelFelixstowe(sold 1952, closed)
Grand HotelWest Hartlepool(sold 1983, still operating)
Great Eastern HotelLiverpool Street, London(sold 1983, still operating, now known as Andaz Liverpool Street)[2]
Great Eastern HotelParkeston Quay, Harwich(closed 1963)
Great Northern HotelKing's Cross, London(sold 1983, still operating)
Great Northern HotelPeterborough(sold 1983, still operating)
Great Northern Station HotelLeeds(sold 1952, closed)
Great Northern Victoria HotelBradford(sold 1952, still operating)
North British Station HotelGlasgow(sold 1984, still operating, now known as the Millennium Hotel)
North British Station HotelEdinburgh(sold 1981, still operating, now known as the Balmoral Hotel)
Royal HotelGrimsby(sold 1949, closed and demolished late 1960's.)
Royal Station HotelYork(sold 1983, still operating, now known as The Milner York)
Royal Station HotelHull(sold 1983, still operating)
Royal Station HotelNewcastle upon Tyne(sold 1983, still operating)
Royal Victoria Station HotelSheffield(sold 1982, still operating, now known as the Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria)
Sandringham HotelHunstanton(sold 1950, closed)
Station HotelAberdeen(sold 1983, still operating)
Yarborough HotelGrimsby(sold 1952, still operating)
Zetland HotelSaltburn-by-the-Sea(sold 1976, closed)
From the Southern Railway
Charing Cross HotelCharing Cross, London(sold 1983, still operating, now known as The Clermont London Charing Cross)
Craven HotelCharing Cross, London(sold 1963, closed)
Grosvenor HotelVictoria, London(sold 1983, still operating, now known as The Clermont London Victoria)
Knowle HotelSidmouth(sold 1951, closed)
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References

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  1. ↑ Peter Land, Sauce Supreme
  2. ↑ "Andaz London hotel".
  • Carter, Oliver (1990). An illustrated history of British Railway Hotels: 1838-1983. St Michael's: Silver Link Publishing. ISBN 0-947971-36-X.
  • Whitaker's Almanack (various dates)
  • P. A. Land (Managing Director, British Transport Hotels, 1978–1983) Sauce Supreme (2010) - The annihilation of British Transport Hotels Ltd. Peter A. Land's memoirs regarding the final days of British Transport Hotels Ltd.
  • Geoffrey Skelsey LVO, Famous Hotel Keepers for Over a Century: British Railway Hotels under State Ownership 1948-84 (in BackTrack vol 20, No 7, July 2006)
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