Station Hotel True Crime & History

The Station Hotel is a hotel and banqueting suite on Castle Hill in Dudley, a market town in the West Midlands, England. The original hotel was built and partially opened in 1898, with it opening fully to the public in 1910. It was then demolished and renovated as part of a modernisation plan in 1936.

 

 

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 

In 1896 a meeting was called to discuss a new building for a prosperous new hotel, to be known as ‘The Station Hotel’. The license was granted, and it was proposed the building to be situated on the corner of Birmingham Road and Trindle Road.

The Station Hotel was partially opened on the 28th of May 1898, a beautiful black and white building with a courtyard and stables and a fountain situated in front. The main entrance for horses and carriages, now the entrance situated on the corner of Trindle and Castle Hill, and the fountain, now traffic lights.

The fountain outside of the building had been moved from its original site at the top of Castle Hill, which made way for “The Earl of Dudley’s” statue. The horses would have used the fountain as a drinking site before moving on their way.

Opposite the Hotel “The Opera House” opened in 1899, bringing to Dudley the rich upper class, who would frequently visit the Opera House.

In 1933, The Opera House burned down, bringing a sad demise and the end of an era. Eventually it was to be replaced by a fine modern theatre, renamed “The Dudley Hippodrome”, opening their doors in 1936.

Marking the same year, The Station Hotel was extended and modernised. Many of the big stars that appeared at the Hippodrome chose to complement their visit to the Black Country by residing at The Station Hotel.  

One big star: George Formby was starring at the Hippodrome, then followed by a stay at The Station Hotel, a large crowd of fans gathered to catch a glimpse of George, he reportedly performed for the crowd from the balcony of his suite.

Other stars to have stayed at The Station Hotel include, Bob Hope, Laurel & Hardy, Jonny Ray, Bing Crosby and Tommy Cooper.

In the 60s, the hotel was modernised and a cocktail bar opened upstairs. In addition, a function room bar was added downstairs-this was reputed to be the longest bar in the country at the time!

In the 21st Century the hotel was at risk of being closed permanently after COVID19 hit and put a strain on hospitality, but the hotel was purchased, given some new love and remains a party of Dudley History.

FOLKLORE

Going back to the beginning, researching the building was almost impossible due to the displacement of many archive records. However, it is up to you to decide whether the folklore stories told about the hotel over the years are true or not…..

The story tells of a hotel manager who enticed a servant girl into the cellar. Spurning his advances and threatening to tell his wife, the girl was murdered by the hotel manager. He strangled and stabbed her then hid her body in a barrel.

When ‘Most Haunted’s’ resident psychic Derek Accorah came to the hotel, he reported the name of a male spirit George Williams/Williamson who was having an affair with a female by the name of Elizabeth Hitchen. George Williams allegedly murdered Elizabeth by strangling and stabbing her. Accorah then revealed that Williams disposed of Elizabeth’s body by means of a chute within the hotel, which would have been used, at the time, for the delivery of bottles and barrels. Williams was then reported to have buried the body near the front of the hotel. According to Derek Accorah, Elizabeth Hitchen’s body remains there.

The second spirit that Accorah picked up on was that of George Lawley, whom he described as a writer who knew of Elizabeth’s murder and wrote about it in a ledger that he is reported to have hidden. To this day, the ledger has not been found. It appears that a character of this name was a local historian who, at the time worked as a writer for the brewery!

Derek Accorah also picked up on the spirits of two children. Catherine aged 6/7 who died under the wheels of a carriage and Richard aged 3/4 who passed away after a blood-related illness.

The other, as yet unnamed spirit who Accorah picked up on is rumoured to be sitting, waiting for someone in the infamous ROOM 214.

No one has yet to prove the existence of these spirits, as was mentioned earlier, there are many records missing.

Judge for yourself, go and spend the night at the Station Hotel…