Coventry Hotels

Did Hylands become the Hylands Hotel in the early 1970s. It rings a bell with me as I collected football pools coupons in the area - sometime between 1972 and 1974.

Well before then! It's certainly listed as Hylands Hotel in the 1936 Telephone Directory

I remember taking a young lady to the Hylands on a first date about 1975. It was an excellent carvery in those days which suited my then gluttonous appetite. It is now a bottom-of-the-range hotel, more of a dubious doss-house if you read its Trip Advisor reviews. They are worth it for a laugh and will leave you wondering (a) how such a place is allowed to remain open, and (b) can there actually be a worse hotel anywhere in Britain.

Fred Kilpatrick retired to Guernsey not Jersey. We used to live a few doors away from Fred in Keresley and looked him up when we were in Guernsey, we had a very pleasant day with him and his wife on his boat, we took them to The Old Goverment House Hotel for dinner the next evening We opened a shop in Far Gosford Street in 1963 and was told that Fred was the previous tenant selling fruit and veg. Tom Bromwich from the cycle shop opposite told me this, Tom was a lovely guy. Other members have mentioned he had a batch bar in Spon End, I cannot remember this but know he had a cafe in Ford Street about 1964, it backed on to the old Pool Meadow site so would have catered for the bus drivers. from what I remember he gave good value for money at the cafe as he did at the Royal Court. Fred then moved to the Berkeley Hotel in Holyhead Road and then to The Royal Court which he bought the whole site (except the cottages by the entrance) for about £24,000, it was an auction so everybody had the same chance to buy it. He then bought the Allesley Hotel and pub near Marton, as someone mentioned a hotel in Jersey. I believe my neighbour in Keresley, Ken Forth, bought one of the cottages, Ken had an engineering factory in Holbrooks and I believe he was a partner in Modern Machine Tools in Gosford Street with Harry Weston. Dutchman I am sure you will remember Modern Machine Tools. Back to the Royal Court which I think was built by William Hillman who died in 1921, Sir John Black who married Hillman's daughter also lived there I believe. The Quadrant Club bought number 7 the Quadrant from Hillman in 1917 for £2500.00 and believe Hillman lived there before the Royal Court. Alan H

Quite a rare colourised inside shot of the Leofric - was that the Black Eagle bar? The mural was by an artist called Guy Egan apparently.

That must have been the 'Cocktail Bar' at the rear of the main reception before turning left into the Leofric Bar/Lounge

Wearethemods. Yes, the ground floor bar, to the left as you entered, had cubicles down the right-hand side.

I used to go with school friends to the White Lion jazz club at the Leofric in the mid 60's. It was fantastic. We saw acts like Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart who eventually joined together to be The Steampacket. They introduced us to American blues and soul music. We were way too young to be there but a friend's father worked there and was able to get us in.

Not a very well known fact. But Fred Kilpatrick also owned Tarl Engineering that was opposite the Dunlop on Holbrook Lane. Living on the Tamworth Road, in Courtland House, his business empire was Courtland House Holdings. Anything we wanted at Tarl was purchased by Courtland House Holdings and then we had to rent it from them at well over the odds. Also remember, The Royal Court was once Keresley Hospital.

The Royal Court Hotel was built for William Hillman (Hillman Motor Company) and his family before it became the hospital. My grandfather had an operation there in the early 1960s and I had a chance to look around the old operating theatre area while the hotel was planning its expansion around 1978. I also visited the Allesley Hotel which housed the Masonic Lodge in a room on the lower floor, before it was taken over by Fred Kilpatrick.

I was born in Keresley Hospital, so it was good enough for me. But I didn't know Fred Kilpatrick took over the masonic Temple (they called it) at Allesley. Years ago, a friend told me that his elder brother left school and instead of dossing about, got a job as a cafe boy (assistant) at the transport cafe in Pool Meadow, where all the bus and coach drivers went. Fred K owned it. My mate's elder brother was offered a more lucrative job as a business partner by Fred K, who had plans to expand, but was dissuaded by his mother who said "no future in working for that Irishman, he'll never make any money". So instead he became a lorry driver and scraped a living, becoming bitter and twisted and turning to drink. Let that be a lesson to all you youngsters.

I searched out a photo of the present room in the Allesley Hotel and the original flooring for the Masonic Lodge appears relatively if not totally undisturbed. It now fulfils other functions! Tripdvisor Image

The Glass Plate Collection I recently linked to in the Collections thread is full of treasures! Rob have you zoomed in on this one on the Flickr page and seen the people in the windows!

Yes Neil, I have - the amount of detail possible on cameras 150+ years ago never fails to astonish me! And kids of today think they're the first ones to have all the best modern tech!