Georgian Glamour: The City Arms Hotel
Standing on the corner of Broad Street and East Steet, Barclays Bank is a rather unassuming building. Compared to the grandeur of the Green Dragon just down the road, it seems understated, almost plain. It is hard to imagine today that there was a time when it once rivalled the Green Dragon as the city’s most prestigious hotel.
Its known history begins in 1549, when it operated as an inn known as the Fawcon, and around a century later, during the English Civil Wars, its name had been lengthened to the Swan and Falcon.
This early establishment stood much further into the road than the current structure. At the time, the top of Broad Street was known as Norgate, named so because this had once been the site of the Saxon city’s north gate. By the late eighteenth century, this narrow stretch of road had become a huge bottleneck, trapping traffic as it travelled to and from the market in High Town.
In August 1787, the Common Council met to arrange the widening of Norgate so that it would match the width Broad Street, offering to put £100 towards the work themselves. Thankfully, they were able to keep their money, as an unlikely saviour came to the rescue.
In 1790, the Swan and Falcon was acquired by Charles Howard, a local politician and the Duke of Norfolk. He had been MP for Hereford in 1784, and would later become Chief Steward of the city in 1794.
It is not hard to understand why he bought an inn once you realise that, during one of his election campaigns, he sat astride a barrel of beer in High Town and handed out free pints to anyone passing by. Unsurprisingly, he also got himself drunk in the process.
Soon enough, Charles had the Swan and Falcon demolished and replaced by his own townhouse-cum-hotel, set back from the original line of the street, as the Council had wanted. Its foundation stone was laid in the presence of the Duke on 2 March 1791, and two years later the building was completed.
Barclays Bank, formerly the City Arms Hotel
The opening ceremony on 9 July 1793 was accompanied by great fanfare, as over a hundred people dined and danced in the new hotel’s Great Room, which was seventy feet long and twenty-eight feet tall from floor to ceiling.
In 1795, the establishment was renamed the City Arms Hotel, hence the Hereford Coat of Arms being placed within its pediment. To locals though, it was simply known as ‘the Hotel’, to save it being confused with an older inn located in Eign Street that shared the same name.
Hereford’s Coat of Arms within the hotel’s pediment
In 1802, the City Arms had what was, and still is, arguably its finest moment. That summer, Lord Horatio Nelson was touring South Wales and the Marches with his parents and brother in tow. Also accompanying him were Sir Wiliam and Lady Hamilton, the latter of which Nelson was having a scandalous affair with.
Whilst the party was staying at Rudhall Court, the civic leaders of Hereford beseeched him to visit the city on his tour. They likely did not want to be upstaged by Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye, which had given the Vice-Admiral a rousing welcome when he visited. Nelson accepted, as it made sense to stop for luncheon in Hereford on their way north to Downton Castle.
On 23 August 1802, the party approached the city from the south. As they crossed Wye Bridge, the horses were unhitched from the carriage and the citizens of Hereford themselves pulled it up Broad Street to the City Arms.
Once there, they were met by the Duke of Norfolk and proceeded to the Town Hall in High Town, where Nelson was made a Freeman of the City of Hereford. Unfortunately, the ageing Bishop of Hereford, John Butler, was unable to attend the ceremony, supposedly due to poor health. Nelson, perhaps suspecting that it was instead because Butler disapproved of his affair with Lady Hamilton, joked that he would call on the Bishop himself later on.
After returning to the City Arms for luncheon, Nelson and his party set off for Downton Castle, leaving the inhabitants of the city with a profound admiration for him. When news reached Hereford in early November 1805 that he had been killed in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, the city was plunged into deep mourning.
On 9 November, bonfires were lit across Hereford as volleys were fired by the Herefordshire Volunteers and church bells rang out in muffled tones, as they would for several years to come on the anniversary of his death.
In April 1806, the foundation stone of the Nelson Monument at Castle Green was laid, followed by the firing of three volleys and an assembly at the City Arms, where a meal was taken and entertainment carried on late into the night.
Nelson’s Column at Castle Green, Hereford
Despite this sad event, the hotel continued to prosper throughout the early nineteenth century, and by the time of Nelson’s death, it even housed the city’s post office. It also became an important coaching inn for those travelling to such places as Hay-on-Wye, Abergavenny, Brecon, Liverpool, and even London.
Unfortunately, its status was diminished when the railway arrived in Hereford in the mid-nineteenth century, completely doing away with the coaching trade that had made the City Arms so important. To add to its troubles, in 1866, the north wing of the hotel was sold to the Gloucestershire Banking Company, who demolished it to build their own premises.
Eventually, the tide began to turn, and instead of shrinking the hotel’s clientele, the railway actually began to bolster it. As businessmen and tourists came and went by train, they naturally needed someplace to stay whilst they were in Hereford, and the City Arms became one of the most desirable options.
With the hotel’s reputation on the rise again, an extension was built along East Street in 1898, allowing for twenty more bedrooms to be added. It even began to run its own horse-drawn omnibus and trailer, which used to wait at Barrs Court Station for those travelling to Hereford with their wares, before taking them directly to the hotel.
The extension down East Street
After the First World War, the City Arms changed hands. Put up for sale in 1927 along with all of its furniture and furnishings, it was quickly bought up by the Trust House Group.
In 1939, the building underwent extensive restoration work, and during the Second World War, it was frequented by American servicemen who were based at the hospital in Foxley. Unfortunately, the aforementioned renovations would not save the City Arms from its greatest challenge yet.
As it had been built on the site of the old North Gate, the line of the Saxon city ditch ran right beneath it, which had been infilled with soft, unstable mud. As a result, the centre of the building began to sag in the 1960s, necessitating even more work to be carried out.
Just a few years after this, the hotel ceased to operate and was permanently closed in 1973. Thankfully, the building itself was saved when Barclays Bank took it over and set about converting it into their Hereford branch. Whilst the inside was completely gutted and rebuilt, the Georgian exterior was kept and had to be supported by scaffolding as the interior was stripped to the bone.
Another survivor of the conversion was a fifteenth-century timber structure that had been hidden behind the eighteenth-century building. In the end, this turned out to have been the old back bar of the hotel. This is not the only reminder of the City Arms’ history though, as if you look closely enough, you will notice that the ground floor window sills on either side of the entrance still slope down towards the door from when the building began to sink into the city ditch.
One of the sloping window sills beside the entrance
Sources
Brooks, A., & Pevsner, N. (2012). The Buildings of England: Herefordshire. Yale University Press.
Eisel, J., & Shoesmith, R. (2004). The Pubs of Hereford City. Logaston Press.
Foxton, D., & Shoesmith, R. (2019). Hereford in 50 Buildings. Amberley Publishing.
Weaver, P. (2015). A Dictionary of Herefordshire Biography. Logaston Press.
Whitehead, D. (2007). The Castle Green at Hereford: A Landscape of Ritual, Royalty and Recreation. Logaston Press.
Images
Image 1: Quinsey, T. (2024). City Arms Hotel [Photograph].
Image 2: Quinsey, T. (2024). Hereford City Arms [Photograph].
Image 3: Quinsey, T. (2024). Nelson’s Column, Castle Green [Photograph].
Image 4: Quinsey, T. (2024). East Street Extension [Photograph].
Image 5: Quinsey, T. (2024). Sloping Window Sill [Photograph].
