Our History
We can trace the history of Fox Lodge Guest House right back to the very beginning in 1873. Since then our historic building has seen plenty of changes and refurbishments.
The beginning - 1873
The land on which Fox Lodge is built was acquired around 1873 from "The Raikes Hall and Gardens Company " who at the time owned the "Royal Palace Gardens", this was Blackpool's main pleasure area with a lake, race course , ballroom, theatre, football and cricket grounds. This was all situated on the land opposite Fox Lodge
With the arrival of the trains, the building of the Tower and the development of the Promenade and Piers, the Royal Palace Gardens wound down in the early 1900s and the land sold for housing. All that remains are the Raikes Hall building , now a pub and the bowling green.
Fox Lodge Completed - 1895
Fox Lodge was completed in 1895 and originally had three bedrooms with servants quarters in the attic.
Some of the original features , which still exist today, include the stained glass entrance door, a majestic feature wall and stained glass door outside what would have been the 'master bedroom' and original stained glass in the front bay windows.
The stained glass in the dining room would have been the entrance to the lodges 'glass house'.
Other features include the marble fireplace( originally in the master bedroom) in the bar other things have been changed slightly due to 'modernisation' but the hallway remains the same as when built.
The rear of the property has extensively changed over the years extended to make more comfortable rooms
and the rear garden taken away to create the large ,private car park
The cottage at the rear would have been occupied by the coachman/chauffer with the warehouse stables/garage.
WW2 and beyond
The Lodge was occupied during WW2 by the family who manufactured the world famous Blackpool Rock and since the war the Lodge began taking in paying guests eventually registered with the local council.
The Lodge once had twelve rooms and only two bathrooms now it has seven spacious rooms , all en-suite
Thank you for reading this brief history and hope you like Fox Lodge as much as we love it.