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This pub at the junction of Admiral Street (left)
and
North Hill Street (right) is usually figured in directories as being at
84 North Hill Street. Over the years it has changed name several times,
as follows:-
1881 Royal Park
Hotel 1894 - Royal Park Hotel 1911
- Royal Park Hotel 1926 The
Admiral Hotel 1934 The Admiral
Hotel 1938 The Royal Oak Hotel 1946
The Royal Park Hotel 1955
The Royal Park Hotel 1962 Royal
Park Hotel 1966 Royal Park Hotel It was finally demolished some time after
1962
Licensees 1934 Wm
Henry Taylor 1938 Wm Henry Taylor 1946
Cyril Burns 1955 Edward John Cook 1962
no one named 1966 no one named
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Graham Thomas, who family occupied this pub for
many years relates the following, very complete history.
"During
most of the 1920s it was either owned - or more likely leased
- by Henry Thomas. (In the photograph, the young boy standing
outside the pub is his son, Paul Thomas.). Next door is the Toxteth
Masonic Hall the Masons had close links to the pub and Henry
Thomas was one himself.
The Thomas family had first arrived
in Toxteth from Gresford, N. Wales in the 1850s. This was George Thomas
and he lived initially in Jones Street. He worked as a labourer
in the docks and married Mary Quinlan from Ireland. By 1871, the
family had moved to Markham Street. One of his sons, George, trained
as a French Polisher and, when he married, lived first in Lothian
Street and then Wynnstay Street. His youngest son was the Henry
Thomas of the Admiral Hotel.
His was an interesting story in that he emigrated to New
Zealand and ended up serving in WW1 as a Captain in the NZEF,
2nd Otago Infantry from August 1914 to Oct 1919, seeing active service in Egypt,
Gallipoli and the Western Front. After he was demobbed, he went to Oxford as
part of an effort to help those who had served as officers to train. He became
a student at Trinity College but never graduated as he married an Oxford girl
and later returned to Liverpool and took over the Admiral Hotel. By all accounts,
the pub was a success until the depression hit, and then it went
bust. Thank you Graham for the history
and the photograph.
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