In the first half of the century there was very little here, in the Millbay area, John Smeaton had cleared a channel and erected a little wooden jetty in the bay’s south west corner in 1756, to set up base for the workings of the Eddystone Lighthouse.
Then this quiet quarter of Plymouth steadily grew and in the 1820’s, with the build and development of Union Street, and the continual growth of the Millbay Docks area; then followed by the GWR’s Plymouth terminal, things soon changed!
With the completion of the Millbay Railway in April 1849, visitors were now arriving into Plymouth by both train and boat in high volume, the demand for accommodation grew considerably and in 1886 The Albion Hotel opened its doors right next to the train station (located roughly on the site of the Plymouth Pavilions)