The Newport, Wormit & Forgan Archive

Location : formerly Royal Bar, 50,  Tay Street

= Property demolished or site redeveloped

Notes:      ground floor, corner, demolished 1971-2

Part of a block. Other parts: 32 Tay Street     34 Tay Street     36 Tay Street     38 Tay Street     40 Tay Street     42 Tay Street     44 Tay Street     46 Tay Street     48 Tay Street     

Commentary

The Royal Hotel was built in 1877 with an entrance in the centre of the block on Tay Street and consisted of about 28 rooms. The Royal Hotel Bar entrance was on the corner of Tay Street & Robert Street. The hotel liquor licence was removed in 1882 after only a short existence and a public house licence was substituted. The hotel contents were sold off in 1882 and again in 1884 after which the hotel part of the property remained empty until 1890 when, with the exception of the Bar, it was converted into housing. Part of the property was used as the first Roman Catholic Mission Hall. Some of the rooms fronted on to Tay Street and some were over the first shops in Robert Street. The building appears to have been flexibly divided - rooms seem to have been allocated to different houses as needs changed. At times there were as many as 14 different tenancies, at others as few as 11. Because of this it is impossible to say who was living in which particular rooms at any given time. A 'best guess' is given on these pages. In 1936 the whole property was declared unfit for habitation. At this point it was found that some of the valuation roll entries were duplicates. The Town Council ordered alterations to give 2 x 3-apartment houses and 6 x 2-apartment houses, and these were in place by 30 September 1938. There is no way to link the pre-1938 division of rooms to the post-1938 arrangement, so these pages show the properties as two separate listings. The buildings were demolished in 1971-2.

The Royal Hotel Bar continued to use the name 'Royal Hotel' even after the rooms had been converted into housing. The alcohol licence was removed in 1922 after which the premises were operated as Refreshment Rooms until the War in 1939.

On this whole plot there have been 3 generations of buildings.
1. Built from the 1830s on, a house, Tay Cottage, on Tay Street; further up Robert Street Turnbull's 2 workshop buildings with a house above one of them. Tay Cottage was demolished in 1876, the workshop in late 1877.
2. Built in 1877, the Royal Hotel on Tay Street, and a row of shops with houses above running up Robert Street and round into Union Street (the last bit built 1878). The whole block was known as Royal Buildings. They were all demolished in 1971-2.
3. Built in 1973-4, the existing Royal Buildings.

Location and Old Maps

Latitude, longitude:      56.442058,-2.940401

View location on the 1855 6-inch map, the 1895 25-inch map, the 1914 25-inch map, the 1966-73 25-inch map, or a 1944-50 aerial photograph at the National Library of Scotland website.

Nearby properties (demolished in red):   1 Robert Street   (formerly 2, Robert Street)   3 Robert Street   (formerly 4, Robert Street)   5 Robert Street   (formerly 6, Robert Street)   7 Robert Street   (formerly 8, Robert Street)   9 Robert Street   (formerly 10, Robert Street)   11 Robert Street   (formerly 12, Robert Street)   (formerly 14, Robert Street)   (formerly 16, Robert Street)   (formerly 18, Robert Street)   (house & workshop, Robert Street)   (Grocer's Shop, Robert Street)   1 Royal Buildings   2 Royal Buildings   3 Royal Buildings   4 Royal Buildings   5 Royal Buildings   6 Royal Buildings   7 Royal Buildings   8 Royal Buildings   9 Royal Buildings   10 Royal Buildings   11 Royal Buildings   12 Royal Buildings   22 Tay Street   24 Tay Street   26 Tay Street   28 Tay Street   30 Tay Street   (formerly 32, Tay Street)   (formerly 34, Tay Street)   (formerly 36, Tay Street)   (formerly 38, Tay Street)   (formerly 40, Tay Street)   (formerly 42, Tay Street)   (formerly 44, Tay Street)   (formerly 46, Tay Street)   (formerly 48, Tay Street)   52 Tay Street   54 Tay Street   56 Tay Street   58 Tay Street   (house on site of 26, Tay Street)   drinking fountain, Tay Street   (house on site of Royal Hotel, Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [2], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [3], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [4], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [5], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [6], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [7], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [8], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [9], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [10], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [11], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [12], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [13], Tay Street)   (Royal Hotel, part [14], Tay Street)   (old cottage [5], Tay Street)   (old byre [5a], Tay Street)   (old cottage [6], Tay Street)   (old cottage [7], Tay Street)   (old cottage [8], Tay Street)   (old cottage [9], Tay Street)   (former slater's yard, Union Street)  

Later use of the site :   1 Royal Buildings     2 Royal Buildings     3 Royal Buildings     4 Royal Buildings     5 Royal Buildings     6 Royal Buildings     

Earlier use of the site :   (house on site of Royal Hotel)     (Royal Hotel, part [1])     

Information and Photographs on Other Sites (open in a new window)

1909-10 Finance Act - Valuation Office: Field Surveys

Reference no.      74

Old Addresses (any dates are approximate and are usually the latest occurence of the address)

House Names (any dates are approximate and are usually the latest occurence of the name)

Directory entries (before 1975)      There are 142 entries

Entries in the Registers of Voters

Census records

Valuation Roll entries      There are 40 entries

Early Sasines:

Sasine Plots:

Sasine Abridgements:

Abbreviations in the notes
t/on - thereon;   t/p - turnpike;   dw - dwelling;   ho - house;   pt - part;   pce - piece;   grnd - ground;   bldg - building;   Tr/Trs - Trustee/Trustees;   dec - deceased;   ... - words omitted;   pol - poles;   yd - square yards;   : - bounded;   rd - road;   ' - feet;   " - inches;

Basic Types of Sasine Abridgements     Worked example explaining the sasine transactions on the property pages     Sasine entries - background information and explanation

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