A question that was asked of me recently. Why didn’t Sheffield Station have a hotel attached to it? Considering that the Victoria Station had the Victoria Hotel (now the Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria), why didn’t the old Midland Station have one too? Especially when most towns and cities benefited from a large hotel in proximity.
A bit of research suggests that the Midland Station did have a hotel, maybe not the grandest, and didn’t last long.
The Midland Station Hotel was built on Sheaf Street in 1879 and demolished in 1903.
It coincided with improvement works to the Midland Station that gained a handsome new facade, as well as an extra railway line. Sheaf Street was widened and diverted to improve the tramway network to the station.
The land that the Midland Station Hotel stood upon was used to make way for new railway sidings, and these would have been where the present day wasteland (formerly the site of Dyson House) stands today.
The hotel was owned by the Truswell’s Brewery Company, Eyre Street, and opened on Christmas Eve 1879 with George Wood being the first and only tenant, completing almost twenty-four years service, and becoming the oldest proprietor of a commercial and family hotel in Sheffield.
It was bought by the Midland Railway Company in anticipation of the redevelopment and subsequent demolition.
Where in this ever changing city would the Midland Station Hotel have stood?
It’s hard to imagine now, but it is possible to trace its exact location.
There is a large pelican crossing that crosses Sheaf Street from Sheffield Station to the bottom of Howard Street. It reaches a paved area before pedestrians must cross a narrow stretch of lower Pond Street before proceeding up Howard Street towards the city centre. This paved area is where the Midland Station Hotel once stood.
What I cannot answer is why another large hotel wasn’t built to replace it.
© 2024 David Poole. All Rights Reserved.
sheffielder.net 