The Royal Hotel

Tony Bonney – Jan 2022

Sadly it seems The Royal Hotel on Liverpool Road has finally closed. According to notes made by Muriel Sibley, it was built in about 1870 by Tom Rimmer who also built the Reciprocity Brewery for brewing his own beer. This was located behind the Hotel and was shown as disused on a 1906 map and later became part of the Mayflower Industrial Estate.

During WW2 The Royal Hotel was a popular “watering hole” for aircrews from RAF Woodvale and about 30 of them scratched their names and comments onto a window in the pub. This Historical Window was later preserved by the landlord Clarence Joseph Dickenson and he also arranged for a Plaque to be made to record this.  

In early January 2022 contractors were clearing items from the pub and a member of the Formby Civic Society rescued these 2 items (with permission) from a rubbish skip at the front of the Royal Hotel. These have now been photographed and added to the archive of the Society.

The Society has located in its archive, a number of related Formby Times newspaper articles which add a very interesting background to this story.

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