The Palatine Hotel was regarded as the very best hotel in Manchester shortly after it was opened and it’s not unsurprising that Palatine Lodge chose the hotel as their first meeting place, however the hotel was not without its problems, in September 1889, the police objected to the renewal of the license of Wm. Thompson, on the grounds that he was convicted of permitting gambling in his house. The hotel bar closed in 1910 when it was discovered that it was being used as a brothel and the manager whose name, I have been unable to ascertain, was banned from holding a licence. It may be that the members of Palatine Lodge were aware that the hotels in and around Piccadilly were becoming more prestigious and that the area of Hunts Bank was not as upmarket as it was, and may have had an effect on the decision to relocate to the Albion Hotel, unfortunately we will never know for certain, as the reason was not recorded in the minutes. The Palatine Hotel closed in 1911 and the ground floor was subsequently converted to retail use. The Palatine Buildings were not granted listed status, unlike the medieval buildings to which the Palatine was attached, which are Grade I listed. It would be extremely unlikely for any construction to be placed so close to a Grade I structure today, and the Palatine Buildings were actually joined to it at one point. Final demolition of the structure was completed in 2017 The map shown here on the left is dated 1844 and shows Hunts Bank and the Palatine Buildings, reproduced with kind permission of David Boardman, who’s website manchesterhistory.net contains many photographs of Manchester. A modern view of the same area shows the completely cleared site.