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Government housing quotas are to blame, 1600 new homes a year for 20 years for Wirral is ridiculous and is imposable to achieve without eventually building on green belt which is highly unpopular.

Well, I think any attempt to regenerate the area should preserve its good features and adequate free parking is certainly one of teh major ones these days.

The plan to give it over to Housing is the death knell for any real regeneration of the area. It is beyond stupid. It is utterly moronic. Those responsible for this lunacy should be beaten out of town with sticks and dogs set on them to speed their departure.

Is a backhander involved somewhere, one wonders.

The 1939 register show 8 staff (live in) the manager was Charles E Lees, son of Luke Lees jnr, son of Luke Lees, Bedford Hotel.

There was also earlier a Central Hotel, 15 Grange Rd.

In 1885 ish there was shares on offer, 4,000 shares at £5 each to build a Grand Central Hotel in Argyle St adjoining the Grand Central Restaurant. The plan was to have a Hotel and Stables with access from Henry St. I don't think it took off.

Found a couple in the Flaybrick records buried in Pauper/Public graves, not sure when they were exhumed.

30 shillings in 1916 is equivalent to £112.50 now. 30 shillings was roughly the cost of a paupers funeral at the time which is what they tried to recover from the estate, relatives or friends (even though friends and relatives do not have to pay, they often tried it on).

Many people paid weekly into a friendly society to pay for their future funeral.

These days the Government pay for full military funerals for anyone that dies in active service. There are some conditional funds for veterans that die from active service.

The Birkenhead local authorities had to make arrangements after yielding to strong public opinion and pressure to end the scandal of deceased British soldiers and servicemen being interred in paupers graves.
The Town Clerk and Cemetery committee considered the matter and instructed the cemeteries to provide free spaces in the 3 divisions of the cemeteries.

The Town Clerk reported the burials of a private nature were never charged for the grave but relatives were charged 30s for the excavation and filling in of the graves. Permission had to be granted from the Home Secretary to exhume those buried in paupers graves and this was a lengthy process.
It was also reported Liverpool authorities had never charged a penny.

Can't understand how it was allowed to get in the state it now is.
Search youtube "Central hotel" to see. It shocks me.
I've always thought the council could have taken it over and made some use of it maybe as temporary acccommadation or similar.

After Wetherspoons left this site in a holy mess, it now has a side wall back on it. This is very fast progress, it only went on the market again in February by LSF Estates Developments Limited.

Portofino restaurant next door which is/was part of the same property has just received a massive fine for employing illegal workers.