February 2023
The Visit
Visited over two days with @stranton and @coolboyslim on the first and solo on the second, as we approached the imposing building it quickly became apparent that this was going to be something special and after wondering around the perimeter for ten minutes me and @stranton made our way in. Once inside we were met with beautiful victorian tiled walls and high ceilings, we started to make our way around the building quickly separating and occasionally passing each other in the vast hallways. We must of spent a good couple of hours wondering the structure, after leaving we met back up with @coolboyslim and moved on to the next spot of the day. It was only when I got home that evening and started to pull the photos off my camera it became apparent that my SD card had corrupted and I'd lost approximately half of the photos I'd taken at the hotel. After I'd calmed down I decided that the only option was to make the two hour trip again and revisit the site the following day, which is just what I did.
The History
Located on a small hill, the red-brick building overlooks Preston railway station, on the West Coast Main Line, to its north-west and Miller Park and the River Ribble to its south-east. In its heyday, the hotel was connected to the southern end of the main south-bound platform (the modern-day platform 4) at Preston station by a covered footbridge. Various pre-1923 objects from the hotel are in the National Railway Museum at York. These include Mappin & Webb cutlery and Elkington & Co. tableware and candlesticks, the latter marked with the initials "P.P." and a lamb and flag, the coat of arms of the city.
The Park Hotel was opened as a joint venture between the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company and London and North Western Railway Company on 1883, in the 1923 grouping of railway companies, ownership passed to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway who operated the hotel until the UK's railways were nationalised in 1948. Ownership then passed to the British Transport Commission's Hotels Executive, and thence to British Transport Hotels, who sold it in 1950 where it continued to operate as a hotel for a number of years until it was acquired by Lancashire County Council who used it as offices, and renamed the building "East Cliff County Offices", the council also constructed a modern annexe to the west of the main building. In 2020, the modern office tower was demolished as part of a plan by the Council to restore the hotel to operation, however at the time of out visit no renovation works were apparent and the project seems to have stagnated.
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Cheers for looking 
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18mm EFS
Canon EOS 70D, 10-18mm EFS
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That was a first for me.
