What became of this grand old Hereford house?

Jane Mackie posted a photo in our We Grew Up in Hereford Facebook group, which now has more than 13,500 members, asking where this house could be.

Tammy Redding wondered if it was Uplands which was a home for children with special educational needs in the 1950s and perhaps a riding school before that.

Sarah O’she was sure it was the Three Counties when it was on Aylestone Hill as she walked past it every day going to school as a young girl.

“It had a swimming pool which was considered extremely up market.”

She then remembers it became the YMCA in 1970 which had a Friday night disco.

“Which we all used to smuggle cider into,” she said.

Robert Elliott quickly recognised the building as the Three Counties Hotel.

“I ran the downstairs bar when I was 19,” he said.

While others thought of their wedding receptions at the hotel.

Valerie Bullock remembered hers in 1965 while Eddie Thompson had theirs in 1960.

Jean Harris said she had her wedding reception there and it was the last booking they ever took.

Jo Morgan said it was her favourite place in her student days in the 1960s, especially the cellar bar with the jute box.

“Very said to see these beautiful buildings disappear,” she said.

Three Counties Hotel is now in Belmont Road.

The Three Counties Hotel is now operating from a building in Belmont Road in south Hereford and is still widely used for events and wedding receptions.

In 2016 it changed hands for the first time in 20 years.

The 60-bedroom purpose-built hotel was sold on behalf of Daniel Price and family who owned and operated the hotel since 1995.

It was then sold again in 2016 to the present owners Harry Harrison and family, who are from Oxfordshire.

In 2020 it reopened during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide additional care and rehabilitation capacity for former NHS patients and members of the community, as part of the county’s response to the Covid-19 emergency.