Dolphin, Felixstowe

The 1904 Woodbridge licensing records show that the Station Hotel's license was issued in 1878. Whether this was when it was first licensed or when it got a full (ie not just beer) license isn't clear, though the latter seems more probable. Beach Station Road was formerly called Station Road. The original Station Hotel building was slightly closer to the railway line than the current building. A paperback book published in 1969, called "Inns of the Suffolk Coast" by Leonard P Thompson** contains the following extract: This modern (1959) public house stands opposite the Beach Station, on a site formerly occupied by the Station Hotel. This was the first of Felixstowe's 3 railway stations to be opened - by Colonel Tomline, in 1877, when it stood at the end of a single line. The Station Hotel was opened by 1883, when it was known as the Station Family & Commercial Hotel & Refreshment Rooms, run by David Moore. When the new pub was built, it too, was called the Station Hotel, & a few years ago (from 1969), its owners, Ind Coope, decided to give it a new name, associated to the Sea. Photographs of this pub and more historical information about it can be found at suffolk.camra.org.uk/pub/277