North Euston Hotel
Fleetwood is a place of firsts Take me here now
Make sure your volume is on: "Fleetwood is a place of firsts"
We’ve been first at a lot of things here in Fleetwood.
First planned seaside town.
First to be connected by rail.
First lighthouse to be lit by town gas.
First rabbit called Hesketh – that’s me, by the way.
And the furthest North you could go by rail from Euston station in London.
That’s why the grand hotel on our seafront is called the North Euston.
£30,000 it cost Sir Peter Hesketh back in 1840 – that’s over three million pounds in today’s money. It was built to be rival to the best hotels in London.
Yes, Fleetwood was the place to be. Even Queen Victoria came to visit - well she came.
She was sailing down from Scotland in the Royal Yacht with Prince Albert and they stopped to see the new town.
Big excitement. VIPs invited. Gun salutes fired. Loyal toasts drunk. A huge banquet planned.
Sadly, her majesty was ill on board the ship and missed it all.
Still, after a short spell as a barracks and shooting school for the Lancashire Regiment – I hated all that banging – the North Euston returned to elegant service in 1898.
Then, as now, guests enjoyed sea air, a fine ballroom, elegant architecture, and a prime view of the world’s best sunsets – perfect!
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