Swan Hotel

The Swan Hotel, located on Greengate Street in Stafford, is a hotel that dates from the mid to late 18th century, with possible earlier origins from the mid 17th century. The building features a stucco exterior and a slate mansard roof with a large brick chimney stack.

It stands three storeys high with an attic and has a six-window range. The top is adorned with a modillioned cornice and a parapet. To the right of the centre, there is a segmental-headed entrance that was originally a coach entrance, now fitted with paired panelled doors. The ground floor showcases three wide bow windows, each containing four 4-pane sashes, along with friezes and cornices. The leftmost bow window extends over two storeys. Other windows on the ground floor have sills and 4-pane sashes, while there are five flat-roofed dormers featuring small-paned casements. The chimney stack is detailed with a cogged frieze and cap. At the rear, the hotel has two gabled wings, one of which includes a former stable block, and the courtyard is partly enclosed with 20th-century additions.

Inside, the hotel retains some panelling, likely from the 17th century, and features a late 19th-century open well staircase. The stable block has been converted into a bar while preserving some original features, and the courtyard still includes windows, including a bow window.

Historically, the Swan Hotel was a well-known coaching inn. Notable figures such as George Borrow, who wrote about it in his book "Romany Rye," and Charles Dickens, who stayed here and described both the hotel and the town in an article for "Household Words," have connections to this establishment.