One hundred and twenty-six years ago, the Westgate Hotel boasted over 100 rooms, including a magnificent 62ft high ballroom. If you arrived by train a hotel porter would meet you at the station, while horses could be ridden into the courtyard stables.
Built in 1709, the exterior you see now was put up in 1887 in French Renaissance style. The porch dates from Regency times, and local legend has it that its columns were dented by bullets fired during the Chartist uprising.
Nowadays the structure is Grade II listed – ‘important and of special interest’.