Monday, 20 January 2014

Hyde Road Hotel / Palm Court / Caesar's Palace / Jennison's Ale House, Hyde Road

Palm Court, Hyde Road, Belle Vue, Gorton. (c) Junior Blue at bluemoon.

Situated on the site of the old Belle Vue House, the huge pub at the entrance to the Belle Vue Zoological Gardens and speedway stadium on Hyde Road was probably best known as Palm Court, which it was named in 1942 (seen here in 1962).  Within the hotel ground floor were two bars, a bar parlour and four smoke rooms, as well as a dining room and refreshment/tea room [1].  Upstairs were a staggering nine further dining rooms and twelve bedrooms plus a retiring room [1].

Palm Court, Hyde Road, Belle Vue. From Wikipedia under Fair Use.

By 1971 the Palm Court was renamed Caesar's Palace licensed bar and grill, and its penultimate incarnation was as Jennison's Ale House, named after John Jennison, the founder of Belle Vue Zoological Gardens.  It appears to have been the Hyde Road Hotel originally (not to be confused with the other one, further down the road) but it was closed in 1980 due to structural concerns.  It must have been demolished around this time as I don't recall it during many visits to speedway meetings in the early-mid-1980s.

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