The famous Sunderland hotel which had a coffee room, restaurant, billiard room and wonderfully airy bedrooms
Sunderland people will remember the hotel which had a billiard room, banqueting suite and once had an Irish themed pub.
Until its demolition in 2007 the Mowbray Park Hotel was the oldest hotel in Sunderland.
But it all started out in a very different style when the building was a cottage.
Philip Curtis, from Sunderland Antiquarian Society, explains more.
It started out as a thatched cottage and was occupied by Peggy Toward who Toward Road is named after.
But by 1827, the Providence Garden Inn, later to be called the Gardeners Arms was on the site and just 15 years after that, a major rebuilding programme had happened which led to the Mowbray Arms opening.
Back in those days, it was a coaching inn with its own billiard table and was stocked with the finest quality wine and spirits.
In 1890, the hotel was rebuilt and opened that year as The Palatine Hotel.
The new building boasted a coffee room, restaurant, billiard room and, what was described as ‘a number of airy and comfortable bedrooms replete with every convenience for the family and commercial visitor’.
The hotel also included a fine banqueting hall in which all the principal public and Masonic dinners were held.
Around 100 years ago, the hotel underwent a major renovation both inside and outside before reopening on in March 1927.
Fast forward to 1971 and the hotel was refurbished again. This time, though, the building was given a change of name and became known as The Mowbray Park Hotel.
The next change happened in the 1990s when part of the hotel in Toward Road was altered into an Irish-themed public house called Durty Nellys.
It was only briefly successful but the main social centre of the city had moved westward to the Green Street/Vine Place area of the city and eventually the pub and hotel closed.
Our thanks go to Philip for the article which features in one of the fantastic newsletters which go out to members of the Sunderland Antiquarian Society.
You can also visit the Antiquarian Society’s Facebook page or its website which is at http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org
And to become a member, email [email protected]
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