Breezy Bay for Bracing Blows
October and the sea temperature is nearly 70 degrees, and bikini clad sunbathers catch the last rays of the summer topping up their tans on beaches where the sea laps its tide of suntan oil against the unvarying line of the years detritus deposited by the waves of the Mediterranean.
In Morecambe the dog walkers are getting accustomed to layers again, sou’westers are the garb for cyclists and even joggers are wearing several layers of kit whilst the dog walkers dogs too are dressed for a gale.Across the bay the peaks of the Cumbrian fells reflect the setting sun as the more adventurous strollers race back to safety of the shore as a tidal rise of ten metres sends the waves roaring at cyclist’s speeds across the stretches of sand, cutting deep gullies slyly to catch out the unwise.
The shallowness of the bay precludes a normal lifeboat for their rescue but the RNLI has a hovercraft ready to sprint to the aid of the unwary if need be.
As with any seaside building one winter is enough to take the bloom off any paint finish as salt laden winds erode cement. Click to see how close to the beach the hotel is
looking like a beached ocean liner, the hotel has spectacular views over Morecambe Bay towards Barrow-in-Furness and along the coast to the Lake District. Click to see a detail of the bar terrace over looking the beach
Restaurant areas maximise the views over the Bay for diners. Click to look from the inside out
“Like a beached liner the Midland Hotel is the dowager observer of this northern English seaside”
Like a beached liner the Midland Hotel is the dowager observer of this northern English seaside, its façade battling to stay white whilst turning grey with encrusting salt from the briny spray the wind drives across the shore. Grace and beauty were once the architects dream at the behest of a now defunct railway company, and little is left of the busy port it once served.Instead of reflecting the ship breakers yard the hotel’s picture windows reflect the pinks and grey blues of the sunset on the fells across the bay. Diners and drinkers can enjoy the views protected from air that can at times be over-bracing, and too forcibly fresh.
Recent research has shown shore dwellers live longer. That may be so, but their industries don’t. Neglect by generations of politicians has contributed to the decline of this once prosperous seaside town, as indeed it has too many of the shrinking towns in the North West. They shrink as the young and aspirational move in search of fortune and perhaps fame elsewhere, often to the expensive and overcrowded South East where the political elite concentrate on feathering their own nests rather than regenerating the declining towns of the North.
Here even the Western themed cowboy fun park is shuttered on a bleak seafront where the gleam of the Midland sounds a lonely rallying call to those who would see life return to this birthplace of Morecambe and Wise. There are few jokes in this decline, but the hotel does enjoy the quiet beauty of its near isolation in the gorgeous Lakeland landscape.
Behind the Reception desk is the Gill relief, stolen, fought over and eventually returned to its rightful place in the listed building. Click to see the spectacular lobby staircase
Daniel Fountain / 14.10.2014
Editor, Hotel Designs
