Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Pubs Past & Present 712 Chelsea Reach ( Ferry Hotel ) Victoria rd

I had my hen night here. In fancy dress. 'no! Am a HEN not a effing chicken!!!'. My mates sister came as a Fat [censored] from Viz magazine and nobody realised! the Dreamboys were there and going home with the Designated Driver we had a 'blow out tyre' on the Bidston flyover. We were rescued by a taxi who said over the blower thing 'ive got a fat [censored], a fairy, a chicken and andy pandy.....'

Sandra or tracey lol

I remember if there was a very high tide you had to stay inside until the tide turned.Sandbags were put along the bottom of the door to try and stop the water from coming in.
On the plus side the bar stayed open. We couldn't go out,the police couldn't come in!!!

It was opened as the Chelsea about 1970 by the Chase family from down south. I remember it as the Ferry Hotel but never went in there.

Hello ,
My name is Natalieand i'm a student at Chester University , as part of a work placement three collegues and I are researching for an exhibition to be held in the university of Tom Woods photographs . There are three areas to the exhibition , Rainhill hospital , Cammell Laird Shipyard and ChelseaReach nightcub .

I am looking for any information or material on the building before becoming the club , and after . And if anybody has stories about the club , or any ephemera then please get in contact .

[email protected]

Thank you very much for your time .
Looking forward to hearing from you .
Natalie ,

The Ferry Hotel, at the base of Victoria Road, opened in c1850 and was in a favourable position to attract customers as it was the first building passengers would come across after alighting from their ferry-boat.

After Isabella Graves death her 26 year old great niece Ann Graves took over the tenancy of the Ferry Hotel. In 1857 the hotel was taken over by the notable architect Stephen Eyre who designed St. Albans Church with J.A Hanson in 1852-1853. Eyre remained at the hotel for 10 years and was succeeded by Miss Ann Tennant, a 30 year old, who changed the name of the hotel for a short period to 'Royal Hotel'. In 1869 Ann left to take up duties at the Magazine Hotel, Magazine Brow and was replaced by the one time proprietor of the Queen's Hotel, Conway Street, Birkenhead, George Mason, who changed the title of the hotel to 'Royal Ferry Hotel'. George was a wealthy shipowner and was elected a member of the Wallasey Local Board in 1870. After George retired in 1879 his son, Edward, became the proprietor until 1889 when he left to take up the tenancy of the Queen's Hotel in Conway Street and in 1892 was elected as a member of Birkenhead Borough Council, becoming Mayor of Birkenhead in 1897-1898. It is worth noting that Mason Street, off Victoria Road, and formally known as Black Diamond Street, takes its name from the family. Today the hotel is now residential flats but had recently been a nightclub called Chelsea Reach and Club Royale.

I had my 18th birthday party at the chelsea, funniest thing was booking it as they knew i had been going there for at least a year, Paul chase was always very nice to me although i heard he coud be a nasty bugger,

There seems to be more than one thread about the Chelsea Reach/Ferry Hotel on the go at the moment, but here's that link (again) for photos from the eighties in case you haven't already seen them.

http://we-english.co.uk/blog/?p=2604

There's a good one of the minging carpets on here

Did anybody, or does anybody know of, people who stayed in the hotel ?
Thank you .

I'm wondering how long it is since its been a hotel, it was another nightclub before the Chelsea Reach iirc.

My great uncle used to stay there when he was on business trips to Liverpool as he could use the ferry to go across to meetings.

No it was the Ferry Hotel or properly the Royal Ferry Hotel. I can vaguely remember delivering papers there with my elder brother when it was a hotel and thinking it was very posh. I worked on the conversion to the Chelsea reach so it would have been roughly 1967-69?

When New Brighton was at its peak, the Liverpool ferry would come in, mums and kids would head for the beach and dads would go straight into the Ferry hotel. Quite funny watching that.