Penarth Beach and Esplanade Hotel. - A lovely postcard view of the beach and Esplanade hotel somewhat incorrectly hand coloured. The beach was only sandy in places being predominently shingly, the water, however, was and is always muddy, so some artistic licience must be allowed for! The postcard was published in Penarth by G. H. Murrell of the Royal Buildings, is date stamped September 1938, and addressed to the Beechcliffe area of Keighley in the former West Riding of Yorkshire only a few miles from my home. Another fine postcard image from the Penarth Dock Collection. [001]

The view at the rear of the Esplanade Hotel with its fine garden, greenhouse and the important stables for visitor's horses and their carriages. Beyond is the Alexandra Park dating this postcard view after June 1902 when the park was officially opened to the public. Another piece of social history and a fine postcard image from the Penarth Dock Collection published by Ernest T. Bush. The lower image has been colourised. [001]

The Western Mail [164] [361] of the 29th July 1884 ran the following editorial - Penarth Improvements - 'When the writer of that beautiful hymn, "Abide with me," penned the well-known line, Change and decay in all I see, he certainly could not have been within sight of Penarth. The visitor to that popular watering place may, it is true, find many marks left by the "ever whirling wheel of change," but at the same time he will see that every change has been for the better, while for the slightest evidence of decay he will search in vain. Penarth - there can be no doubt about it - is flourishing and must long continue to flourish. . . .

The buildings fronting the Esplanade are likely to receive a very important addition in a short time, for we hear that a company is now being organised with the object of erecting a grand new hotel on the plot of ground between the baths and Beach-road, than which a more convenient site cannot possibly be found. Part of the ground floor, we understand, is to consist of a number of shops. The roofs of the shops will project far beyond the line of the upper portion of the structure, and will be arched over and converted into a terrace, on which flowers and shrubs will be planted and seats placed. The first floor windows of the hotel will open on this terrace, and in the evening, when there is nothing left but to:-

Watch the twilight stars come out
Above the lonely sea,

it will, no doubt, be quite a popular place of the resort amongst those who are staying in the hotel. The building will contain 50 bedrooms, and every appurtenance of a first-class hotel. Its situation will be admirable - the baths, the gardens, the Esplanade, and the boat-house are all close at hand - and it will, no doubt, be extensively patronised. Attached to the hotel, but with a separate entrance, it is intended to build a large refreshment-room especially for the accommodation of the hordes of excursionists who come down from the hills for a day at the seaside. A good idea of the improvements of which we have spoken will be gathered from the subjoined sketch:-