Will Preston’s ‘Walt Disney Castle’ ever get its fairytale ending?

Plans to restore the 140-year-old Park Hotel to its former glory appear to have been abandoned, four years after they were passed by the council.

Instead the landmark Victorian building, which overlooks the city's Miller and Avenham Parks, seems set be turned into apartments after a dramatic change of heart by its owners, the Lancashire County Council Pension Fund.

Details of a new scheme have emerged after developers asked the city council if they would need to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to build two new accommodation blocks in the grounds - one 10 storeys high and the other nine storeys tall. And the news ends more than a year of speculation that the original scheme may have stalled.

The hotel restoration plan was approved by councillors in January 2019, but by December 2021 hardly any work had been carried out and rumours of significant issues surfaced, resulting in the Local Pension Partnership telling the Post: "There is no further update on this development at the current time.”

Now plans for the grand old building have changed direction, with a huge refurbishment and building project for up to 440 apartments on the drawing board instead.

The Heaton Group, which developed the Bishopgate Gardens complex from two office blocks near to the city's bus station, has submitted the EIA application to Preston's planning committee.

The plan includes the two residential new blocks on land previously occupied by a six-storey office building which was demolished recently after being branded "ugly" and "a blot on the landscape". It also includes the refurbishment of Number 8 East Cliff, a detached Georgian building which was formerly a private house.

The Park Hotel was built in 1883 in the golden age of railway hotels. It was originally called the Railway Station Hotel and was connected to the platforms of Preston Station by a covered walkway.

It was a striking red brick building on high ground facing south, one of the first sights to greet travellers arriving into Preston by train. And it was likened by the former Vicar of Preston Fr Timothy Lipscomb to a Disney Castle on its lofty perch.

In its heyday the hotel's guest list included the Prince of Wales (later to become King George VII), Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and the entertainer Gracie Fields. It was a luxury destination for thousands of rail travellers and the original plans were to restore it back to the grandeur it once boasted.

In 1950 the British Transport Commission sold the building to Lancashire County Council for just £85,000 and it was converted into offices. County Hall finally vacated the building in 2011 and it has stood largely empty ever since.

The pension fund acquired the building in 2016 with the intention of returning it to its original use, as a high-end hotel. The plans passed by the council in 2019 included restoring the original building, with a new pavilion attached including a spa. In total the revamped hotel would have had 200 rooms, with a banqueting suite for 500 guests.

There were also plans to bring in an operator to run it, with local businessman, the late Simon Rigby, said to be the forerunner.