Loughborough: The Great Central Station Hotel

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 17 Jul 2011

Contemporary with the opening of the nearby railway and Loughborough Central station in 1899, the hotel currently stands empty and disused, its former clientele of commercial travellers using the railway having long since disappeared. The building is locally listed and the Charnwood Borough Council website describes it thus: "Hotel, originally built in conjunction with GCR railway. Late C19, probably 1898/99. Unremarkable C20 extension at rear. A free mix of Neoclassical, Tudor, Gothic & Domestic Revival design elements. Red brick with stone/stucco window dressings, string courses and inlaid decorative panels. 3 storeys. Multi-gabled red clay tile pitched roofs. Gables upstanding with stone copings. Oversailing eaves with stepped stone string course. Tudor style gable stacks with corbelled heads and terra-cotta pots. Off centre "T" plan fronting both Great Central Road and Wharncliffe Road. Main entrance off Wharncliffe Road via porch with Italianate balustrade above stone dressed round arch containing panelled doors and fanlight. Chamfered 2 storey bays to both facades. Generally vertical sliding sash windows. Intrusive signage." Earlier images of the hotel in happier times, in 1977 and 2002 respectively, can be seen in the Transport Archive website here http://www.transportarchive.org.uk/getobject.php?rnum=L2169&searchitem=loughborough&mtv=L3&pnum=1 and here http://www.transportarchive.org.uk/getobject.php?rnum=L3247&searchitem=loughborough&mtv=L3&pnum=1

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