Burnt out Nightclub

Following my last adventure, I decided to swing by this place briefly. It looks amazing on the outside, but I've made it here a little too late to capture anything monumental. The nightclub is now just a shadow of its former self. Of course, with the exterior being the most attractive part of it, naturally that's the part I completely forgot to photograph. I nabbed this from Streetview. 

 

I've also found another photo, which I think is from 1909.

It's a gorgeous building, and mostly unchanged over the years, although the top of the tower was initially a lot more castellated, and the top floor windows also seem to have been rebuilt at some point. Unsurprisingly, gieven that it looks like a castle, this was once called the Royal Castle Hotel, and urbex posts seem to say that it dates back to 1879. If they didn't just copy and paste from each other, they may have learned that it was actually a private residence as early as 1795. It was licensed to serve alcohol at least as early as 1817, and a letting advert from 1812 names it as the "Tranmere Inn and Ferry House," indicative of two distinct uses for the premises. The advert boasts that it's a mile from the city centre, opposite the brand spanking new docks, and has a steady passage of boats across the river, which is also great for sea-bathing. 

What more could one ask for? Well, the place did eventually end up in the hands of a chap called Thomas Ormerod, which is an unusual name, made odder still by the fact that I can't find much else about him. I have found the occasional snippet of information saying that various meetings have been held at the Royal Castle, with food provided by the host, Thomas Ormerod, but that's nothing too significant. From what I can tell, it changed its name to the Royal Castle around 1870, but rather infuriating, there's so much of its history before then that I haven't managed to find.

Here's the former bar, looking very sorry for itself. There are still a few old tiles attached to it, being sad remnants of happier times.

 

The same tiles are also around the remains of the fireplace, and if you look really closely you'll also see the remains of some patterned black wallpaper there. 

 

 

Some parts of the seating area is still intact too! 

Historically, the Royal Castle was frequented by dock workers from the shipyard across the road, who were big drinkers, sometimes downing four pints on their breaks. The dock workers, being regulars, were familiar to the bar staff and after a while it got to the point that the staff knew what each one drank, and where they sat. As a result they had everything prepared for them right before their lunch break. The dock workers could just swarm over and have their drinks ready, so their precious break time wouldn't be spent waiting at a bar for service. They'd pay their tab at the end of the week. It sounds like a pretty sweet system, but I do have to wonder about the efficiency of a dock worker if they're under the influence of alcohol. But hey-ho. It's probably too late to complain to their manager, so put that phone down now, Karen!

It wasn't until 1914 that the "Defence of the realm act" limited the times in which one could consume alcohol at a pub, believing that being drunk would hinder the war effort. (Someone get them a medal for that realisation.) As such, prior to 1914, anyone could rock up at the Royal Castle at any time and get a drink. The pub also offered cheap accommodation, a bowling green and billiard tables. Alas, according to old Victorian maps, much of the bowling green is now under the road.

Throughout the late 20th Century, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, it became something of a biker pub and, after many a biker toga party and a period of proudly advertising the selling of "Lambs Bollock sandwiches," eventually evolved into a rock music venue and renamed itself Hotel California in 2004.

 

This is where the bands would have played back in the day. The stage is still present, as well as a sign at the back for the buildings most recent name, Revolver. The venues Facebook page is also still standing, so I managed to nab a photo of a band performing here, with the Revolver sign visible in the background.

(Photo credit- venues Facebook page)

 

There's also a sign advertising "Fireball Fridays" and even though that's no longer there, it's still possible to see where it once was. 

(Photo credit- venues Facebook page)

 

It actually looks like a pretty cool place. 

And indeed, the majority of reviews of this place were pretty positive, with rockers saying that it was a home from home, and non-rockers saying that it was full of freaks and scary men with long hair. It seems that the Hotel California staff actually moved here from a smaller premises in town, so they already had a reputation for hosting rock nights. They had a great run at this place, but in 2018 the building was becoming something of a never-ending maintenance job, and it was time for the team to move once again.

The building closed down, and has been becoming steadily more derelict ever since.

A few photos by other urbexers show that once there was a really nice handrail on this staircase, and that the white portion of the wall was once red. I'm not sure what happened to the railing, but I do know that after its demolition was announced for 2019, someone purchased the stained glass windows from the bar area, so maybe a load of other stuff was removed and saved too. Someone was allegedly said to be coming for the tiles, but this doesn't seem to have happened.

Upstairs seems to be a bit generic, but I do love a good ruin.

So, for some reason it was never demolished. However in 2019 it was set on fire by an arsonist. The newspapers initially reported that two buildings, this one and a derelict barbers, were set on fire within an hour of each other. They later they named and shamed the perpetrator, even posting his mug shot. 

And I won't name him, because he was only seventeen and we were all idiots at that age, albeit he seems to have been a bigger idiot than some... but I will say that he looks a lot like Tobey Maguire from Spider-Man 3. 

But what annoyed me about him is that his defence was his ADHD. While he confessed to the arson, he said that setting things on fire was the only thing that calmed him down. The judge then concluded that doing jail time would only be bad for his mental health, and gave him a hundred hours of unpaid work.

What the fuck, judge? I know plenty of people with ADHD who would probably be pretty miffed to see the condition that they struggle with being used to defend something like arson. If someone confesses to being relaxed by setting fire to things, they need something a bit more than unpaid work! Student nurses get unpaid work! 

Some appropriate graffiti right there!

But also, delays in the trial meant that he didn't get convicted until 2021, and his defence said that this was intolerable because it took him over the age of eighteen, where his convictions would follow him throughout his adult life. 

What the fuck? The guy literally said that he finds arson relaxing, got unpaid work for it, and his defence thinks the punishment isn't soft enough? Fucking hell.

 

The kid has since said that he now decides not to socialise, as its the safest thing to do. Fair enough, I relate. Humans smell. But he now has a girlfriend and hopes to get a job. He seems to be doing okay.

But that's all I've got of this place. The nightclub makes for a good mooch if you're in the area, but obviously being fire damaged makes it more dangerous than your average abandoned building. I only came here because I was in the area. If you live far away, it's not really worth coming here just for this, but I can understand how someone with more personal connections to it might feel completely different. I've got quite fond memories of a few pubs and bars, and if one of them was abandoned, distance would not be an excuse to give it a miss. 

My next two blogs are in a different city, first a little bit of underground stuff, and then a big abandoned thing. And they're both more awesome than this, but that is the nature of urbex. It can't be epic all the time, but it's always an adventure. In the meantime, assuming the algorithms allow it, anyone can remain updated on this blog by following my Instagram, my Twitter, my Facebook and my Reddit.