Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Pubs Past & Present 133 Chester Arms 2 Conway Street 2 100 Hamilton St

Chester Arms 2 Conway Street & 100 Hamilton Street

It's really interesting to see this photo it's the only one I've seen, I have been looking for one on and off for ages - my Auntie Eva used to run this pub when I was a youngster, in fact I had a photo of her holding me as a baby on the day King George the fifth opened the Mersey tunnel(quite a while ago). I remember my Dad taking me there when I was about 5 and collecting bottle tops behind the bar. My Dad used to live there when he was a young man it was a huge place upstairs with lots of rooms. This has brought back a few memories - could you tell me if there is any more info or pictures available and where I might find them. I might get started on the family tree stuff again.

Some info from one of Ian Boumphreys' pub books
Just makes me wonder how deep the railway is under Hamilton St
very vaguely think as a child when rebuilt it may have wide steps going up to the entrance
Need to find a 1950ish pic of it
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Liverpool Mercury 1885

Unable to open the attachment.
Is this the only Chester Arms.
if so.
The Wife and I had our wedding reception upstairs in September 1959

Here's a bit of it in the 1950's ish era, judging by the vehicles, but I can't see any wide steps.

I've always been puzzled by the 1885 picture - I don't know if there is a bit of an optical illusion going on. If they were balconies we can see, why did they have a wall around them? Did the wall support the floor joists? Why were the balconies so narrow?

This leads me on to ask what if they were not balconies, but part of the bedrooms that had lost their outside walls. Why were they so narrow and why did they have windows inside that looked like outside ones?

If you look closely at the top picture (from the original 2011 post), you can see that this is after the rebuilding took place, the clue being the slightly lighter shade of brickwork and stonework where the missing masonry was in the pub book picture.

As for the railway, I expect it would be 'cut and cover' at this point, which is not normally very deep, but deep enough cross the docks branch line which re-emerges only a few yards away, between Henry Street and Argyle Street.

It is interesting to note that the demolition of the Chester Arms was so critical to land usage by the Tunnel approaches that they have been able to build a Premier Inn hotel on the same site.

Here is a bit more of the building, on the right, taken just before the new flyovers were opened.

After re-reading my last paragraph in my previous post, I realised that I might have given the impression that it was demolished to make way for the new road scheme. The photo below confirms that it was still there when the new roads opened, but I don't know when or why it was closed or demolished.

It eventually made way for St Marks House, the home of the Crown Prosecution Service and the CSA at one time (now a Premier Inn?). I'm not sure if the NHS had the bottom floor as well?

I'm guessing that was around the early 1990's

Caption says 1954.

This brown and grey building is the site of the old Chester Arms, at the end of Hamilton Street, facing the Haymarket. Picture taken today, March 8, 2017.

Damage from the railway tunnel 1886