Peaky Blinders-themed bar and restaurant coming to Dudley

The Office will be on the ground floor of the former Station Hotel in Castle Hill.

The hotel has been bought by Birmingham businessman Steven Buray, who lives near Hagley, and his family. It will become The Station Hotel & Banqueting.

The hotel in Castle Hill is currently closed and the new owners are carrying out refurbishment work.

Tony McKeon from Birmingham will operate The Office. He said the hotel and his business would work closely together to build on the opportunity to offer Peaky Blinders themed weekends so people visiting the nearby Black Country Living Museum could stay in the area.

The bar and restaurant will feature original Peaky Blinders artwork from artist John Jones which Mr McKeon has collected over the last six years.

The price paid for the hotel has not been disclosed but the refurbishment is expected to cost more than £1 million.

"We are working towards opening both The Office and the hotel around June 21," said Mr McKeon.

The 1920s features of the hotel will be retained in the refurbishment.

Mr McKeon said he was working with the University College Birmingham on the menu for The Office which will feature some Black Country traditional favourites like faggots and peas and he will also be recruiting catering students from the university college to work at the restaurant which will also supply the food for events staged at the hotel including weddings.

"We hope to have some classic cars from the 1920s on show for the opening night," he added.

The Office will also put on special events including cocktail nights and will have an upstairs games room, plus a new outside seating area at the back of the hotel.

An electronic ordering system is being put in to meet social distancing requirements with waitress service.

The 38-bedroom hotel, which had been on the market for offers of more than £1.25 million was sold for an undisclosed price just before Christmas.

It dates back to 1898, had just opened a new tea room in March last year before it was forced to close by the coronavirus pandemic.

The later hotel building from 1910 was demolished in 1936 when the current larger building on the junction with Trindle Road was built.

It was used by entertainers appearing at the old Dudley Hippodrome, directly opposite in Castle Hill, with Laurel and Hardy staying there in 1947 on their theatre tour of the UK that featured in the 2018 film Stan and Ollie.