Investment is desperately needed to save this important city centre building currently languishing in the hands of the Queen’s Crown Estate Solicitors.
Grade II-listed, since delisted, 1880, Daniel Birkett
Contrary to what its name suggests, the Great Central Hotel has no connection to the railway company of the same name, which ran services between Yorkshire, Lancashire, and London Marylebone, and never travelled as far north as Carlisle. Its name relates to its central position within the city, where it backs onto and incorporates a section of the medieval city wall. Designed by Daniel Birkett, the building is constructed from contrasting sandstones and incorporates pilasters in the Corinthian order as well as stone panels decorated with the coat of arms of Carlisle, the date of its construction, and various scenes from Aesop’s fables. Its design is elaborate and aspires to a high social status, but today little of this is visible from the street, because the elevations are concealed behind scaffolding. Owned by the Crown Estate since 1979, the hotel closed in 2004, and has since fallen into disrepair. The local council has spent £77,000 on the building in recent years, but the projected cost of repairs has made it difficult to find a developer willing to take it on.
Director of the The Victorian Society, Christopher Costelloe, said: ‘We’re grateful to everyone who nominated the Central Plaza Hotel, Carlisle. Like all the buildings included in this year’s Top Ten, it is a listed building meaning that the Government has recognised its national importance. The Council are to be commended for spending money on a building which the Crown Estate Solicitor will not market. I urge the public to share the Top Ten, and Griff’s message, to help raise awareness of the Central Plaza Hotel and help it to find the investment it so desperately needs.’
Status Update / March 2026
Five years after appearing on our list in 2015, the building was designated unsafe by the then-county council. Despite significant opposition from heritage groups including the Victorian Society, the buildings were demolished and the site was cleared. Since then, plans have been submitted by Whitbread to redevelop the vacant lot as a hotel under its Premier Inn moniker. These proposals involve repairs to the gable wall of another Victorian building – the Green Room Theatre – located on the western city walls.