Memories of Wolverhampton hotel's "wanted" guests
Years ago the Clarence Hotel in Wolverhampton, seen here, was a popular haunt for a sprinkling of wanted men on the run from the Metropolitan Police, Derek Partridge, who has a family connection with the hotel, tells us.
And he says the photo we used in our Picture From The Archive slot is a quite rare view of it.
Our photo, dating from 1968 and showing the Clarence on the corner of Queen Street and Pipers Row, brought back memories, although one in particular is not so pleasant.
Derek emailed in to tell us: "My mother Mrs Phyliss M. Partridge held the lease, and ran the hotel almost single-handedly from around 1948 up until the mid-1950s.
"I remember that her original charge for B&B was 12/6d a night."
That's just over 60p in today's money, by the way.
Derek went on: "I remember how in 1951 she agonised over her decision to increase this to 13/6d per night (68p in today's money). I think that there were around 10 bedrooms and only one primitive bathroom/toilet between all the guests.
"We did have a private bathroom, which she occasionally allowed regulars to use by appointment.
"The dining room was the nicest part of the hotel with fine views over Victoria Square, Horseley Fields, and the original High Level station portico. In your picture it's located behind the two ground floor windows beneath the sign for Gents hairdressing.
"Being close to the top of Railway Drive, and because Wolverhampton was then the terminus for many London trains, we used to get a regular clientele of commercial travellers.
"However, being the cheapest hotel nearby, we also got a number of 'Wanted' characters on the run from the Met. This meant that we quickly got used to middle of the night raids by the CID.
"My tiny ground floor bedroom looked onto Pipers Row and the notorious Little Swan pub, popular with ladies of the night – Mom called each one 'Maggie Walker' – Teddy Boys, and RAF servicemen, an explosive mix resulting in a fatal stabbing right under my window."
