The North Stafford hotel in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK
When I uploaded my 3 blogs on my trip to India I asked my readers which places they would like me to blog about next. I then listed some of the places I had blogs in draft for like:
Malaysia
Cambodia
Vietnam
Thailand
Oman
UAE
Qatar
My friend Brian commented :
"DON'T KNOW HOW YOU MANAGE TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH SO MANY EX.COLLEAGUES,FRIENDS ETC.
"How about stoke in Trent ? Far more exotic than all those places you list. Hehe ! "
He even sent me some old photos which bought the memories flooding back. So here you are , Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell- a blog about the place we all met and you got engaged on New years eve 1982!
First a little background for those who do not know Stoke -on- Trent:
"Stoke-on-Trent is a city in central England. It’s known for its pottery industry. The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery displays locally made ceramics, decorative arts and a WWII Spitfire. The Gladstone Pottery Museum is in a former Victorian factory. The Trentham Estate has landscaped Italian gardens and a forest with monkeys. "
Source : Google ( accessed 26.9.21)
Part of Stoke's Industrial heritage- now a museum , the Chatterley Whitfield Colliery by Paddyhalfmonkey - Using a Praktica MTL 5 B film cameraPreviously published: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46670043
( accessed 26.9.21)Wikipedia adds:
"Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375.[9] It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire.
Stoke is polycentric, having been formed by the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from Stoke-upon-Trent where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were located. Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The other four towns are Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton.
Stoke-on-Trent is the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as the Potteries, with the local residents known as Potters. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres."
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoke-on-Trent ( accessed 26.9.21)
"Enough of the quoting from Wikipedia" I hear another old friend , and regular Blog contributor, Mr. Gregory say- "tell us some stories about Stoke!"
A very young ( smoking ) Neil ( Trainee Manager) with Michael Murray ( Deputy Manager) and Rhod Mitchell ( Assistant Manager ) and Marion in 1982 at the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke on Trent
So in 1981 I graduated from what was then Huddersfield Polytechnic and was taken on by Trusthouse forte (THf) as an Executive Management Trainee at the North Stafford Hotel in Stoke - on - Trent. The Manager was a Maltese firebrand called Joe Azzopardi ( according to Rhod's email he had a Maltese flag outside.) I remember he had a reserved parking space for hos car outside his office and every morning the breakfast waitress would watch from the restaurant for his arrival. If he did not have coffee on his desk by the time he got to his office there would be trouble.
Harvey's Bar, or the Clayhanger to give it the proper name and next door was the Footlights bar where lunch was served daily
Michael Murray was the the Deputy Manager, and Winnie was in charge of Banqueting . She was a true Potter and called everyone "Duck". Foscoe was the restaurant Manager and Wilson the head porter. Harvey ran the bar and knew all the Potters and the Stoke Football team by sight. I learnt so much working alongside them all.
Errol Brown, the front man of Hot Chocolate who sadly died in 2015 age 71
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGSef6XUydY&list=PLOBRWM5CzqpUpTeRYXyZVq-r4eSLG3I_C&index=3
The hotel had showcases of all the major potteries in the UK ( Wedgewood, Ainsley etc.) and they regularly entertained their guests in the Hotel. As well as the Chief Executives of the Pottery companies we also played host to the Ancient Corporation of Hanley who had their Venison feast there every year, and visiting celebrities. I remember running around when Errol Brown of Hot chocolate stayed , getting his Racing Post and Black Forest Gateaux before he played in concert at Hanley. Much to my annoyance he gave free tickets to pretty blonde receptionist, Janet! I dated another receptionist called Angie, and we went on holiday together and shared a flat in Hanley for a while.
Rhod and Marion dance the night away in the hotel ballroom , the night they announced their engagement.
I remember working on reception and helping an arriving guest take her luggage to her room once. As we walked to the lift a huge argument was going on between Stephen, the young hall porter, and Mr. Azzopardi. Once we got in the lift and started going up the guest asked who the rude shouting man was and I replied sweetly :
"Oh, that is Mr. Azzopardi, Our General Manager, madam!""
When I became "Duty Manager" after about a year at the hotel Joe would call me to his office and have me brief him on the days conference and banqueting events
"We have a lunch for 15 at 1 pm for Wedgewood" I would start
"What are they eating?" He would ask
"Lamb" I would say
Then we would go down to the function room and the adjoining service kitchen and he would check a selection of plates and ask where the Mint Sauce was.
I son learnt to study the function sheet, know my business , and check every detail was in place. Soon I was calling the Night Porter and getting him to talk me through the lay up and making sire everything was there before Joe arrived!
The magnificent front entrance canopy at the hotel
I found this picture on the hotel website ( it is now a Britannia hotel, part of the Best Western consortium) and it bought back so many memories. The website is https://www.britanniahotels.com/hotels/the-north-stafford-hotel if you want to find out more.
One of my favourites was when there was a big function on and the front car park was packed. A guest came to check in and I was ion reception while the receptionist had her dinner. I checked him in and he gave me his car keys and said :
"I could not find a parking space , can you park my car- I left it under the canopy"
I said "of course sir" and when the receptionist returned went outside and found his car. Remember I was 22 years old back then!
A Lotus Eclat like the one I got to park for a guest at the North Stafford Hotel
I remember getting in , turning it on, the lights came up and the guest had left the music on full blast! I edged it forward from the canopy , then turned left onto the road and put the accelerator down . The only time I had a drive like that since was when Pav took me down the Sheikh Zayed road in Dubai in her Porsche! I missed the second entrance to the hotel and car park so had to drive all the way around the block and back again. I found a parking space at the back of the hotel and carefully parked it and then took the keys to the guests room.
"Did you enjoy that ?"He asked with a smile
"You bet, sir, Thank you " I replied, grinning ear to ear.
Funnily enough another arriving guest saw me park it and get out and later said to me "I think they are paying you too much if you can afford to drive a Lotus Eclat!"
An old radio pager or bleep , like the one Wilson wore
The other story that I remembered when I saw the picture of the hotel entrance was that on the right of the picture you can see a building. This housed a bar and our sly elderly porter, Wilson , would sneak out of the side door and go in for a quick drink while he was on duty. In those days we did not have mobile phones but pagers or Bleeps as we called them. You discretely wore it on your trouser waistband and if reception wanted you they would press a button and the bleep would go off. There was a normal tone and an emergency one. The side door , which was a revolving door , had bolts on it so it could be locked at night. I saw Wilson leave and go to the club next door, secured the revolving door with the bolts, and pressed the emergency call on his bleep. I then watched as he came running out of the club and smashed into the revolving door. When he came around the front door and asked where the fire was I explained I had pressed the button by mistake! I was evil back then!
A Wedgewood Cameo ring
There are of course lots of other stories, like when Rhod and I teased another colleague, Donna Hurls, making the sounds of the Scottish bagpipes while parading around the Ballroom with mops in hand! Needless to say we worked hard and played hard and I have many happy memories from that time. My mum came up by train and we went to the Wedgewood factory in the snow . ( well worth a visit - see their website at https://www.worldofwedgwood.com/content/wedgwood-factory-tour)
There are many places to visit in the area like Alton Towers , where I saw M People and the Lighthouse family perform) , Trentham gardens and the Trentham Monkey Forest.
I hope that you have enjoyed our walk down Memory lane and special thanks to Rhod and Marion for the suggestions and photos!
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Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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