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The Midland Hotel in Morecambe was originally built in 1848, then known as the North Western, when the railway first came to Poulton-Le-Sands.  The railway terminated on the Stone Jetty which was part of the Morecambe Harbour, later Wards Ship Breakers.

The North Western was later renamed The Midland Hotel.

It was for a long time a railway hotel, right up into the beginning of British Railways.

In the 1930s the area around the harbour was redeveloped.  The old Midland Hotel was demolished and replaced with the present building.

The new Midland hotel was built to the designs of Oliver Hill.  It was one of the first truly modern hotels, built in the Art Deco style, it was a curved three story high structure.

You can see from the picture above the circular cafe which sits on the northern side of the Midland Hotel.  Inside there was an interesting mural round the wall depicting a typical seaside scene but in a modern style.  Unfortunately the mural disintegrated soon after and was only recreated in the early 1990s when an episode of Poirot was filmed at the Midland.

The Midland Hotel also contained several works of art by Eric Gill.  These included the two seahorses outside above the main entrance and the mural on ceiling at the top of the stairs.

Unfortunately the hotel is in quite a different state today.  The Midland closed in the year 2000 and was supposed to undergo a major restoration and redevelopment scheme.

After investors pulled out of the project the hotel was put up for sale.  It was bought in January 2003 by property developers Urban Splash.

Urban Splash were granted planning permission to restore the Midland in January 2004.

Their plans include restoring the hotel whilst retaining most of the original features.

New features will include a roof top terrace, replacement sun lounge, outdoor pool and indoor bath-house.

Work on the project will start in January 2005.  It is hoped that the Midland will reopen in 2006 when restoration is complete.  It has also been confirmed that the Midland will still function as a hotel once the project is complete.