Palatine, Hunts Bank

Palatine Hotel, Hunts Bank, 1894. (c) pittdixon.

The Palatine Hotel was Victoria Station's main railway hotel at the bottom of Hunts Bank, likely named after the Palatine Bridge over the Irwell, shown above in 1894 with a passenger steamer at the floating landing stage of the old Manchester Steamer Docks.   It's also seen here in 1908, looking towards the old Exchange Station, and is depicted in two drawings from the Archive.


Palatine, Victoria Street. (c) Google 2013. View Larger Map.

When it opened in 1843 the licence covered the Palatine and the station buffet bar (could be the same one that still just about exists today).  The hotel bar closed in 1910 when it was discovered that it was being used as a brothel and the manager was banned from holding a licence  It found use as a shop in the 1950s and '60s.  The building is still there as part of Chetham's School of Music [1], and the sign can still be seen as you pass on the train or crane your neck up from Victoria Street.

1. www.northmanchester.net/content/view/83/2.