Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool

Image: © Tricia Neal Taken: 27 Apr 2013

On Queen's Promenade, Blackpool, at the junction with Norbreck Road. Originally built as a large private country house in 1869, it was bought in the late 1800s by J.H. Shorrocks who held lavish weekend parties. Their popularity led Shorrocks to run them on a commercial basis by taking paying guests. In 1912, he formed a public company and expanded the building, now named the Norbreck Hydro, in several phases, adding a ballroom, swimming pool and solarium in the early 1930s. During World War II the hotel was used by the government as offices and accommodation for evacuated civil servants. It remained under government control for eleven years until 1951. In 1988, the hotel was the venue for a conference where the Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party merged to form the Liberal Democrats. In 2003, a group of fifteen children just back from Hong Kong to study at Rossall School were isolated at the hotel over SARS concerns and were kept in a self-contained wing with a nurse. However, they had to be removed for their safety when hotel guests found out the children were staying there and an "abusive mob" of guests forced the children to be removed.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0