The Station Hotel
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| The Station Hotel | |
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 Interactive map of the The Station Hotel area | |
| General information | |
| Location | Castle Hill, Dudley, West Midlands |
| Coordinates | 52°30′47.09″N 2°4′32.32″W / 52.5130806°N 2.0756444°W |
| Opened | 28 May 1898 |
| Renovated | 1910 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Station Hotel is a hotel and banqueting suite located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. The original hotel was built and partially opened in 1898, with it opening fully to the public in 1910. It was then demolished and renovated as part of a modernisation plan in 1936.
Dudley railway station opened in 1850 bringing visitors to Dudley. The high volume of visitors meant the local hotel, known as The Castle, could not cope with the number of new visitors to the town. In 1896, a meeting of town leaders was held and it was decided The Castle hotel would be demolished and replaced with a larger, more modern hotel.[1]
The Station Hotel was partially opened on 28 May 1898 as a black and white building with a courtyard and a fountain situated out the front of the hotel. The fountain was moved down from the top of Castle Hill, making way for the Earl of Dudley statue. An entrance was built on the side of the hotel for horses and carriages.[2] The hotel fully opened in 1910 and gained its name after the nearby Dudley railway station.
In 1936, the hotel was demolished and modernised to allow it to accommodate the guests and stars from the newly built Dudley Hippodrome that had opened the same year. During this time it was regarded as a modern hotel for the upper class of the era.
It was again modernised in the 1960s with a cocktail bar opening upstairs. A function room bar was also opened in the downstairs area of the hotel. At the time of opening, the function room bar was the longest in the United Kingdom.[2]