When the Queen’s Hotel opened on 1 May 1866, Aberystwyth was changing quickly. The railway had arrived, more visitors were coming to the town, and there was growing confidence that Aberystwyth could establish itself as one of Britain’s fashionable seaside resorts.
The Queen’s was built with exactly that ambition in mind.
Built for the Hafod Hotel Company by Aberystwyth builder George Lumley and designed by London architects Hayward and Davis, it was huge by local standards. Contemporary descriptions mention 104 bedrooms, a 54-foot dining room, drawing rooms, private sitting rooms, a library, two billiard rooms and a large assembly and concert room measuring 63 by 31 feet.
There were high hopes for its opening. The Prince of Wales was invited to officially open the hotel and stay for several days. In the end, he did neither.
Even more ambitious was a proposed extension alongside the hotel. This was to contain another 40 bedrooms and a suite of seawater baths. Pipes were actually installed through the sea wall so that water could be drawn directly from Cardigan Bay.
The construction itself was not without problems.
In early 1866, while work was still under way, the carpenters went on strike over wages.
Management responded by placing an advertisement telling the men to collect their tools and warning that carpenters could be brought in from London to finish the job. The dispute was even compared, somewhat darkly, to Rinderpest, the cattle disease causing alarm across Britain at the time. The threat of bringing in outside workers worked, and the strike was soon called off.
Another unusual feature was the hotel’s own private gas supply. Rather than pay the prices charged by Aberystwyth’s gas company, the Queen’s installed its own gas-making plant, supplied by engineers in Lincoln.
But behind all this confidence was a serious financial problem.
The Queen’s opened in May 1866, yet by November of the same year the Hafod Hotel Company was being wound up. In effect, the grand new hotel had outlasted the company that built it by only a few months. It was later taken over by the Mid-Wales Hotel Company and reopened.
As the years passed, the Queen’s became much more than a hotel.
Following the fire at University College in 1885, eleven rooms were used for art classes, and from 1892 part of the building was used as a college hostel.
By 1913 it was still an enormous concern. Sale particulars listed 90 bedrooms, an assembly room with stage and dressing rooms, a billiard room, smoking lounge, library and public bar. Across the road were tennis lawns and gardens. Other parts of the property included stables, carriage and motor accommodation, a cottage, laundry and even a smithy.
Its later history was even more varied.
During the Second World War the Queen’s was used by the RAF and, towards the end of the war, part of the building became a maternity hospital. In 1950 it was purchased by Cardiganshire County Council and later became council offices and a police station.
More recently, millions of television viewers came to know the building without necessarily knowing its remarkable history. The Queen’s became Cambria Police Station in the television drama Hinterland/Y Gwyll, starring Richard Harrington as DCI Tom Mathias.
For a building originally created to impress wealthy Victorian holidaymakers, it has had an extraordinary life.
Few buildings in Aberystwyth can have welcomed such a mixture of holidaymakers, students, airmen, newborn babies, councillors, policemen and even actors through the same front door.
Read more history on the Lost Voices of Aberystwyth
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