Lesley Drew: Paignton's hotel history

Paignton has a number of hotels built to provide for the large number of visitors arriving in the resort every year. 

Recently two new hotels have been constructed on the sea front and others are likely to be follow in the future.  However it's worth looking back to the early Hotels built to cater for the travellers who first started to appear following the arrival of the railway in 1859.  One of these, the Gerston Hotel was a splendid Victorian building dating from 1870.

The story of the Gerston Hotel is well documented. At the back of the hotel stood the Bijou theatre where Gilbert and Sullivan’s famous operetta .Pirates of Penzance was first performed in 1879.  The Hotel was open up until the middle of the last century when it finally closed its doors.  Part of it still remains with Superdrug and Peacocks operating on the ground floor

Across the road facing the stations stands Baileys Hotel opened in 1894 it was also built to house travellers arriving by rail. After closing as an hotel it became the home to a number of businesses.  The building is now in a very poor state of repair, with its future uncertain,  it is hoped that at least the façade can be saved.

Perhaps its worth looking at a couple of hotels its too late to save. One of these was the Park Hotel.    Situated on the corner of Torbay Road and facing towards the sea, it started life as a terrace of five houses built around 1890.  In the early 20th century the houses were converted into an hotel.   During the second world war it was home to US soldiers.   When the war ended it continued as  an hotel and for a number of years was owned by the methodists who provided non-alcoholic holidays.  Eventually it was bought by the Fragrance group and demolished in 2017

 The Tembani Hotel stood at the junction of Manor Road and Marine Drive it was built in  1925 and was one of the larges hotels in the area. Used by the RAF during the war as a home for trainee pilots.  It was famous as a music venue in the 70s and 80s  and was much missed following its demolition in 1994.  The site now houses a large block of flats

One hotel still standing is the Redcliff, recently taken over by new owners it has undergone extensive renovation while retaining period features.  Originally a coastal defence tower, it was purchased by Col Robert Smith and extended in the 1850s to become a grand residence. 

Col. Smith had served in the Indian Army and wanted to recreate a building in the style of that country.  He died in 1873 and the house was home to Paris Singer for a while. Converted to an hotel in 1903 the Redcliffe   has an enviable position with steps leading down to the beach and an uninterrupted view of Torbay from Hopes Nose to Berry Head

PHS continues to grow, membership is increasing and our monthly meetings are well attended. The next meeting is on 20th November starting at 7pm and held in the Gerston Chapel Torquay Road Paignton. Our speaker will be Paul Hawthorne and his subject Oldway-the lost photos.

Our plans for the future include regular walks around old Paignton, and a junior explorers group which has been unavoidably slightly delayed.  The Heritage room in Paignton Library holds a wealth of information, still a work in progress, our archivist is cataloguing the many exhibits to make everything easily accessible to our visitors.  Open from 11am to 3pm on Mondays Thursdays and Saturdays, our friendly and knowledgeable volunteers are always happy to help