Forums Forums Wirral Information Wirral info Site of Hotel Vic' Albion St.

Did the lads go for a tea-break a couple of years ago then disappear? Talk about the Marie Celeste.
Anyone know what's happening here?

Ran out of money - site yours for around £500,000

I actually work in the same building that the Developers actually were based. They have left all their office furniture, files etc when they went bust and moved out.

The planning committee should have forced them to leave the building standing and turn it into apartments. It was a distinctive, solid redbrick building and should have been preserved, but no, the developers wanted to "maximise their investment" (= knock it down and build as many rabbit hutches on the land as they could get away with). Due to their greed and the council's lack of balls where once we had a fine building we now have a waterlogged hole in the ground.

Whoever buys the site is going to have to dig out all that concrete which is wrecked and drain the ground properly - it's like a swimming pool. If it had been built on it would be subsiding in no time.

Agreed, I can't see anything happening with it any time soon...

Well said Mike T. It's a disgrace that the Vic was ever allowed to be demolished. Its ballroom was listed. If there are major redundancies being made by WBC, I hope that the first to go are those who authorised this vandalism.

They should be forced to demolish what's on the site and rebuild the Vic to its original spec.

Does that include that bloody big crane that's been standing there idle since they packed up ? What an eye-sore.

Where did the bricks go to? Surely they should have been of historic value?

My mate lived opposite the Vic just before it closed. The main building (like many in New Brighton and Wallasey) was "walking" down the hill towards the sea, walls leaning this way and that and massive cracks running up the walls. Some of the lintels were cracked and a most of them had slipped. I'm no structural engineer but the whole thing looked pretty unstable to me. Architectural merit ... well it's subjective isn't it, I had a good look around the place myself and I won't miss it, shame any developer goes bust if only for the poor folks who loose their jobs.

I am told there was a Masonic lodge room inside the hotel Vic at one point, does anyone have any photos of it? Or do they know if this was infact the case?

New Brighton lodge is number 2619 and was founded about 1896

There is a chance that they met at the Assembly Rooms in Albion Street, New Brighton but I have so far been able to confirm this.

I thought that I maybe able to contribute to this,as I have my Great Uncle's handbook from 1926.Sorry it's just full of rules and regulations.

By 1926 all the Wallasey Lodges were meeting at the Masonic Temple (Masonic Hall, Manor Rd) which was built about 1910, prior to this the lodges met at different locations.

Why? It was of no true architectural merit, to be homest it was ugly and in it's later years couldn't even be used as a hotel as it was falling down !