Midland holds key to a brave new Morecambe.

(From The Visitor (Morecambe))

THE Midland Hotel began life in quite another guise, the original building making way for the Art Deco masterpiece that emerged in 1933 - a symbol of Morecambe's emergence as one of the finest genteel resorts in the country.

But, though war brought it a new era - requisitioned and used as an RAF hospital - the building saw no more turbulent and significant upheaval than that which brought about its steady deterioration from the 1970s onwards.

Again it reflected the fortunes of the resort - this time suffering the same decline and decay as Morecambe itself, as cheap foreign holidays sounded the death knell for week and fortnight-long holidays to this part of the British coast.

Modern times brought a succession of owners, none of whom managed to restore the grand old building's dignity and place in the national consciousness it had once enjoyed.

Scottish and Newcastle, Hutchinson Leisure, then Apollo Leisure kept it ticking over but there was …