Vintage cars and our art-deco building go hand in hand.
We often welcome vintage car clubs and enthusiasts to The Midland to enjoy our iconic building and a touch of vintage nostalgia while they're on their trip. From The Vintage Festival's range of classic cars parked out front to one off drop in's, we're always happy to welcome vintage cars, scooters and bikes to our car park.
Recently, we were delighted to welcome Actuarius, writer and avid follower of The Midland’s architectural journey, for dinner and an overnight stay.
He tells us a little about his move ‘up north’ and what led to his MG excursion to our coastal art deco gem …
Living our Dream
Just over a year ago we had the chance to buy our dream home so we chucked in our jobs on the South Coast, waved goodbye to our friends and migrated North to Cheshire. The fact that the dream home is a wonderful example of the “modern style” from the between wars period means it should come as no surprise that we have long been fans of The Midland Hotel in Morecambe. When we first saw it, it was slumbering in gradual decay. The next was during restoration and finally a couple of months ago we achieved our long held ambition of staying for a night. The experience did not disappoint.
Architecture and Automobiles
As well as our love of the Art Deco period we have a bit of a thing for classic cars, an interest that has directly led to my being in the fortunate position of establishing a career as a writer and photographer. It also provided a way of meeting new friends after the move and through the Wirral Classic Car Club we met Bart and Karen. The initial link was a shared ownership of MG BGTs: ours a pugnacious scrappy V8, theirs a stunning immaculately original 1800. We got on well from the start and a shared approach to life and views on just how one should enjoy a classic car recently led to our hatching a plan for a raid on the Midland, now an accessible one and a half hours up the M6.
A Fellowship of MGs
Let's Race a Train
Blue Train Run - Actuarius with his Butler
Last year, for my 50th birthday, we used our MG to ‘race’ a train from Cannes to London in homage to the Bentley Boys. The Chap magazine had published my article on this and so I thought they may be interested in a piece on our latest jaunt. The somewhat less epic nature of crossing from Cheshire into Lancashire would, I suggested, be balanced by the opportunity to tell the story of the architectural icon that is The Midland and to add to the canon of The Chap Dines, a series of restaurant reviews from over the years.
So it was that on Friday 4th October I dashed home from the office, quickly changed into “black tie” before Bart and Karen arrived, and then...and then...Well, you'll have to wait and read about it in The Chap.
Midland Autumn Breaks
