Urmston - Victoria Hotel, Station Road

‘When the Victoria Hotel in Station road was built 100 years ago in the reign of the monarch whose name it bears, it was surrounded by cottages, farm buildings and open fields’ (County Express, 1 March 1962).

When looking at the OS map of 1888, we can see that Urmston’s landscape was indeed fairly rural, with the hotel sitting just north of what was the centre of Urmston. However, with the opening of Urmston Railway Station in 1873 and the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, rapid development followed. If we compare the 1888 map with that of 1939, we can see that within the space of 50 years The Victoria Hotel sits firmly within the centre of Urmston and the fields have been replaced with residential properties and community amenities.

Built by James Reilly in 1872, the hotel replaced the Duke of York hotel, which had been demolished to make way for Urmston Railway Station. The Hotel boasted a grand three storey façade in a classically influenced style with column and pilaster detail and attractive arched windows. There was also a bowling green and pavilion attached. We have yet to discover the Hotel’s original building plan in our collection, but plans we hold from 1889, 1915 and 1931 provide us with a rich history.

The Hotel benefitted from its prominent position next to the Station as it was a convenient stopping place for cab drivers; the horses could be rested and fed on the forecourt of the hotel, or ‘The Mews’ as it was known, whilst the drivers enjoyed some refreshment.  

Plans were approved in March 1889 for a covering for ‘The Mews’. The plan shows its position on Higher Road and the sheds for the carriages and cattle. A letter to the planners from the Hotel’s proprietor, John Walton, is attached to the plan, lending a personal touch to this slice of history.

The cabbies charged 1 ½ d for a journey to Barton Bridge, Stretford and they became well known as ‘colourful characters with their heavy overcoats, mufflers and mittens’. (County Express, 1962) One of these characters was ‘Old Lamb’, a deaf cabbie who was reportedly the slowest driver on the roads. Station Road, whilst an important thoroughfare, was in a primitive condition, and was only surfaced for the first time in 1922. 

Urmston’s first recognised bus service was established in 1901 by Harry Smith and operated from ‘The Mews’. A journey from Urmston to Stretford Station reportedly cost 6d. The horse drawn carriage was replaced with a motored bus in 1914 but it was requisitioned during World War 1 so the horse drawn carriage returned for a time.

Plans approved in 1931 show off the imposing façade of the Hotel, and detail alterations drawn by the architectural firm Pye and Bennett for an extension to expand the Smoke Room and Club Room and install ladies toilets on the ground floor. This architectural practice formed in 1908 and was a partnership which lasted nearly 40 years. They counted Hardy’s Crown Brewery as one of their major clients and other pubs and hotels they worked on included The Stonemason’s Arms, Timperley and the Bull Hotel in Didsbury.

The proprietors of the Victoria Hotel can be traced through the ages with the help of the Street Directories we hold at Trafford Local Studies Centre. John Walton was the first recorded owner, staying until 1908. The Census of 1891 lists many people residing in the Hotel, including John, his wife and three children, along with domestic servants, a number of cab drivers, a coachman from Scotland and a ship master from Devon.

The 1910 Slaters Street Directory states Robert Robertson from Stockport as the owner, with the 1911 Census showing us detail of his wife and 3 children and multiple servants and bar men.  John Herbert Hargreaves took over from 1918-1937, then Lucy Jones from 1938, with the last owners believed to be John and Gladys Rice.

We can build a picture, by gathering newspaper reports from over the years, of how the Hotel had a strong community presence. Reported on 24 July 1886, admirers of the poet Robert Burns came together at The Victoria Hotel where an ‘excellent tea’ was provided, and ‘Sergeant Donald McDonald gave selections on the bag pipes in a very pleasant manner’.  Local advertisements from the 1940s show the Hotel to be a centre for real estate auctions in the area, and in the 1950s Jazz concerts were promoted. It was also reported that the Hotel boasted a successful darts team, topping the local league for 3 seasons.

The Victoria Hotel was sadly demolished in 1965 to make way for Urmston’s redevelopment scheme which saw shopping units and a replacement public house built on the site. However, the new ‘Victoria’ couldn’t match the style and longevity of the original, with the site changing guises several times, becoming a Boogie Piano Bar, then a community music bar. Today, the only reminder of the Victoria Hotel’s notable presence in Urmston’s history is the pedestrianised row of retail units which now stand on its site, named Victoria Parade.

Further research

You can find more building plans and archival records using the Trafford Local Studies catalogue

Sources

Architects of Greater Manchester 1800-1940. 2025. www.manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk

Billington, M. 2018. The story  of Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme. The History Press. 

Cliff, K. & Masterson, V. 2002. Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme. Tempus Publishing Ltd.

Crossland, A. 1983. Looking back at Urmston. Willow Publishing.

County Express, March 1962.

Slaters Street Directories, 1891, 1910, 1919, 1928, 1940.

Smith, D. 2019. The Urmston Urban District. www.urmston.net/Urmston_A-Z.pdf

The Victoria Hotel, Station Road, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies cat. ref. PLA/2/BAR/1931/2/1566

Victoria Hotel, Higher Road And Station Road, Urmston, 1889. Trafford Local Studies cat. ref. PLA/2/BAR/1889/1/285.

Victoria Hotel, Station Road, Urmston. Trafford Local Studies cat. ref. PLA/2/URM/1915/1/875