In 1917, it was described as 'a first class family and commercial hotel; headquarters of the Royal Automobile and Motor Union'.Halls held a cattle market there and a sign 'the Smithfield' is still to be found in the back yard.In 1934, Margaret Leo owned it and facilities included billiards, AA and RAC listing and a garage for residents cars. In 1998 the hotel sold Greenall Whitley beers as is shown on the sign in the photograph (right).
In 2012 it was owned by Joules Brewery on Market Drayton, who are bringing it back to its position as the major prestige hotel in town.
Memories
The large farm at the top of Lowe Hill was owned by a family whose son collected rare water fowl. He had quite a collection...better than many Zoos. His mother used to breed Olde English Mastiffs. (They may still be there). The son and his wife has a conservatory kitted out as a bit of tropical rainforest...dripping vegetation with Humming Birds zooming around...very impressive!
However, the point of the story is that he also had two Lamas and they both escaped. Despite widespread searches they were still missing after a week and on the morning in question Bill Blower who ran the Castle Hotel then along with his wife, Margaret had come downstairs to wash his face in the kitchen sink at the back of the hotel. The windows over the sink were obscured glass for 3/4 of the way up and Bill came up from the sink with his face covered with soap suds just in time to see the head of a Lama go past the window. In his own words, "I was so bloody surprised I couldn't think what it was, so I shouted "Margaret, Margaret, come quick,theres a bloody Ostrich just gone past the window.""
I think the Lamas were caught quite quickly after that.
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