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Memories of Bristol England Forum

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The Greyhound Hotel

I am interested in the history of the Greyhound Hotel as posted on the website http://weldgen.tripod.com/bristolinns/id19.html

In particular, I would like to know which building is "to the left of the present building ......called 'The Bell'.." and which later contained a post office.

The WInstone volume of the 1880's shows a building to the right of the Greyhound (when facing the Hotel). The post office was located there and was operated by J.Read. The building appears again in the Winstone 1939 to 1914 and was still a post office with a residence above.

This building was my home from 1934 to 1939 and was not destroyed in the war as stated in the history on the web site. The residence was no longer occupied and the post office operation ceased during the war. The facade, which was very similar to the adjoining Greyhound, gradually deteriorated from water leakage and the building was finally demolished in about 1952 to make way for the shopping centre. Postwar photos show it in the Winstone volumes.

I visited the site during demolition and was shown a very sturdy structure consisting of oak beams dowelled together, which presented a challenge to the wrecking crew. In my time there was no internal connection between the Greyhound and its adjoining buitding but it certainly appeared to be contemporary.

The stables behind the Greyhound and later owned by th Bristol Carriage Company were demolished around 1932 to make way for the steel frame garage accessed through the high coach doorway in the post office building (No. 49 Broadmead)

In the Church Army Hostel fire of July 1935 a wall dividing the burning building and the garage collapsed, filling the garage with smoke. All cars had been removed and the petrol pumps were far from the wall so there was no means for the fire to spread further.