Last Wednesday I posted this picture of Queens Hotel, West Parade, and posed the question:What would be the nearest date: 1900, 1905, 1910 or 1915?
The answer: 1900
This is because from 1902-1907 the Queen’s Arcade (the shopping arcade part of the ill-fated Queen Palace development) would be on your right-hand side of the hotel instead of Connah's.
The fuzzy old pic below, which has the hotel far left, illustrates the point.
After the Queen’s Palace fire of 1907, the row of buildings was quite swiftly repaired and restored to height (without the dome) and there was no intermediate period during which a single-storey Connah’s could have been created.Seems odd to think that Connah's could be hiring out motor cars as early as 1900, but local historian the late J.W. Jones (Joe Swan) noted that Rhyl had its first motor car in 1898.
The winners: Dave Rowlands who has chalked up his 4th win in a very short time, and Jane Shuttle who now has 19 wins and is only one step behind the leader The Great Gareth.
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