Leander House there, just round the corner from the Blue Pool. Looking over from the east strand, it was one of the landmarks of Portrush, prominent. A 4-storey detached property, 1 or 2 little bungalows on the far side, and on this side the countryside centre. The other big landmarks there are the boards of big scripture verses on the other side of the road. Ian King tells me of a summer job at a boat builders, the yard behind the big scripture verses.
‘Counties green & Leander House, with construction boom traffic on Bath Terrace. (Photo (c) author, Easter 2006)
Leander House – I only saw it from the outside walking past, didn’t know much about it. I discover that over the years it had a number of guises – rented out for long-term tenants, family home of Lee family and a photographic studio, a B&B; then accommodation for the navy when the naval boats were in the harbour in the 1960s; then a venue for short catering courses in the 1970s and early ’80s; an adult learning centre; and then B&B and decline to its demolition and rejuvenation.
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An RAF Marine Craft Unit was based at Portrush, connected with the Ballykelly air station. The crews were stationed here from 1964 to 1971, were very popular and active in the town – and some marrying local people.
Photos of RAF Portush from “Royal Air Force Marine Branch are remembered at Portrush ceremony“, October 2017
Jennifer Young tells me the great story of that time: “In the mid sixties my husband, Ray Young was posted to Portrush. He was based at Leander House as part of the RAF Marine Craft Unit No 1105, which supported the RAF Shackelton Aircraft Squadron at Ballykelly.
“Most of the Marine Craft squad were billeted at Leander House. They made it a home really. They also cleared out the basement and built a social club inviting the local people down for entertainment nights, providing curries or suppers consisting of sandwiches, sausage rolls etc. One of the favourite nights was the horse racing evening, where different-coloured wooden horses moved forward with the throw of a large dice. Of course a little a gambling was encouraged.
The RAF is coming! Belfast Telegraph, March 1964 (all newspaper cuttings, source: BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk)
“The men integrated well with the townspeople, joining in various sporting clubs and social occasions – although the favourite pastime for many was going to the pub. Their preferred watering holes were with George Woods at the Ramore, and the Harbour Bar. Indeed, some of them became so friendly with the owner, John Molloy, that they painted his whole bar for him – in ‘Airforce blue’ of course.
“Leander House was of course very close to the sea. A couple of times in very bad weather, the sea came into the backyard and burst through the patio doors, flooding the club room and causing some damage. But it was always quickly repaired and the following week the nightly enjoyment would continue.”
Leander overlooked the Blue Pool. I write below of the 18-year old Lily of the Lee photographer family, in 1931 rescuing a lad who was washed out to sea and in difficulties and she received a bravery award. But Jennifer writes, “There was a very sad event in the 1960s, when a young person fell into the sea there during a storm. One of the RAF men from Leander House tried his best to save the person, but was being knocked back against the rocks by the large waves. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain – although he did receive a bravery award.“
My big brothers talked about swimming out from the raft and under the navy boats in the harbour; it always sounded to me like a big swim – now I see the distance was only about 5 yards! Right, info from Discover Portrush, Heritage Trail
The need for the Portrush unit ended when the Ballykelly station closed, in 1971, and the RAF launches were transferred to other units. The workshops and offices at the harbour became the Portrush Yacht Club.
A plaque commemorating the Royal Air Force Marine Branch service at Portrush was unveiled at the harbourmaster’s office wall, in 2017. Jennifer says, “In later years, whenever I spoke to any of the airmen who had stayed at Leander, they all expressed fond memories of the house and of Portrush” – and indeed many of the crew came back, some from far off, to attend that commemoration and the unveiling of the plaque ceremony.
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After the RAF, Leander House was ‘home’ for catering training.
From the early 1950s there were big efforts to boost Northern Ireland tourism, with the aim to raise skills in the hospitality sector, with Mr WR Knox, on PUDC and also on Hotel industry board, as a key driver. Two-year courses were established, based at venues that including the Technical College, and whose success led to the establishment of the Hotel and Catering College on Ballywillan Road in 1973.
In parallel, shorter 18-week courses were introduced by government agencies aiming to improve employment opportunities. and a ‘hotel’ was established on Kerr St as the site of Portrush ‘Catering Training School.’
The school was a great success, very highly regarded at raising skills in the sector.
‘Catering Training School’, Kerr St., Portrush. Right, 1962, award ceremony, with Mr WR Knox on near right
(photos source: Hisotry of Portrush FB; NI Community Archive)
Sharman F: “The School was at No 6. Kerr Street – I just checked with my Aunt Roberta who worked there before she met & married my Uncle Joe, and who took over running the Windsor guest house (now the Adelphi) and taught in the Catering College”
After twenty years though, the Kerr St venue was run-down. With the RAF vacating Leander House, the Catering Training School jumped over to that location. Over the next 11 years, over 800 ‘Leander girls’ would be trained up.
Preparations to move the school there began with the advert in early 1972 to invite furniture manufacturers to kit out the ‘Catering School, Leander House, Bath Street’ and in early 1973, the first courses of the school were held at that location, with the first cohort of 16 girls completing the course.
Left, April 1972, to work to prepare Leander House for the new school
Centre, March 1973, and the first intake of trainees at Leander House, with girls from all other Northern Ireland, from Newry to Omagh!
The article describes the continuing big success of the course, and by a few years later, 1976, over 250 girls had been trained. This ‘Career in Catering Training Course’ at Leander House was a short course, about 18 weeks, with six weeks in practical training. The course was run by government organisations, initially Manpower Services to address unemployment, later Department of Economic Development to enhance skills.
Girls! Are you aged 16 or over?
A fine career awaits you in catering and you can train in pleasant surroundings in Portrush.
No fees, accommodation and uniform provided, and a weekly income. That sounds a pretty good deal to me and I read of 150 applications for each session, from girls all over Northern Ireland. Actually I think the students came from anywhere except locally – I suppose, not much going on a Portrush residential course if you already lived in Portrush.
Being residential, one house together, it was only open to girls, with capacity for 19. (I read of one guy complaining about being sex discriminated against, not allowed on the course, in 1981. Well it is stated that he was less qualified, was older at age 25, was divorced, with child; and the judge ruled that he wouldn’t stick to the regime of early nights and only one weekend home per course.)
“The syllabus includes all aspects of Food Preparation and Food Service, Reception and Housekeeping,” and:
Amazing that so much can be covered in a short course! The course was a great successes, though some moans that the great sales pitch of the prospects afterwards creates a rather too high expectation for the outcome of such a short course, with subsequent disappointment.
That Kerr St location got into a dilapidated state, as described in the Belfast Telegraph, 1973 article, below.
The move over to Leander House, a big success: I reckon 19 girls per course, 4 courses a year, so about 75 girls per year passing out from Leander; and about 11 years so I reckon that is over 800 ‘Leander Girls’ – having said that, I have not found one who can tell me of their experiences as a Leander Girl, of being at Leander House and if it was a great stepping stone to subsequent further training or work in the hospitality industry.
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The newspaper column on the right distinguishes the ‘Catering Training Centre‘ at Leander House with the separate and parallel universe of the Hotel and Catering College on the Ballywillan Rd, run by the Education committee.
Both with ‘Catering‘ in ther titles, those two separate institutions are easily confused! Both began in the early 1950s with moves by WR Knox to up the ante of our service industry. The Hotel and Catering College began with 5 students in about 1950.
March 1973 – opening of **Hotel and Catering College on Ballywillan Rd**
As it grew, its location meandered around six locations, from the Station Cafe, the Portrush Technical College, the British Legion hall at Hamilton Place, the British Legion clubhouse (formerly the golf club), Ramore Ave, ….. to settling at the new purpose-built Ballywillan Rd location in 1973, offering 180 places. Courses there were two years, City & Guilds, and I see several articles about chefs whose career launched from their training at Ballywillan. Thirty-five years later, the college merged into the School of Hotel, Leisure and Tourism located at the Coleraine university site in 2008.
Compared to the 2-year courses, the ‘Catering Training Centre‘ at Leander House offered an 18 week residential course, run by government training or employment agencies, as a taster and as a way in to work in hospitality.
The two schools have similar titles and overlapping timeframes, but I hope that helps to minimise any confusion!
Suneil K: “Two young ladies who trained at Leander House ended up working in my team at the Strand Hotel. They were brilliant, hard-working and a joy to work with in the Dining room.”
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Land and property for sale, in Bath St and Main St, Portrush – 1895
Earlier years, before Leander House as catering training, it was the RAF accomodation in the 1960s as described above; before that Leander House was in the Lee family, ‘The Photographers of Portrush‘. The advert above has land and property For Sale in Bath Street out the front of the Northern Counties, and on Main St, in 1895 – that may be the property bought by the Lee family expanding from Landsdowne, with the brother Alex and family moving to Leander, and also the property which will become L’Atelier studio on Main St. and the accommodation above and business that included the Picture House next door.
Bandstand at the ‘Counties green; with Leander House prominent beyond (photo about 1904, courtesy Irene Peden)
Sheila Stirrup is researching her Hamilton family, investigating the Kelly Memorial School register books at PRONI and had copied some pages; by serendipity, there is Alex Lee’s name, address of Leander House, with his dad, Alec, listed as Photographer
I see a big ‘To Let’ advert for Leander House in April 1914, as if the Lee family planned to let out the whole house, long term. At that same time I see the first adverts for the L’Atelier studio, as if the family planned to move to the Main St. site. I guess the war spoilt those plans, and in 1916 Leander House is advertised for accommodation; and re-branded in 1917 to be ‘Leander Boarding House’.
Leander was in the hands of Alex Lee, the 2nd generation of the Lee family in Portrush, being son of Robert Lee Snr. His wife Emily started up that boarding house or hotel – “the only house in town with hot and cold sea water” – which continued through to the 1950s.
The photograph is of Leander House, 1930s, courtesy Irene Peden.
Photo courtesy Jaci Gregg: “This is a picture of my Granny and Granda (William Kennedy and Jeanie nee Tosh) on their joint wedding day, 26th April 1933. They were married in Castlerock and had tea in the Bonne Bouche in Causeway Street in Portrush then they walked along here, Bath Rd, for the photo.”
Leander House is on the right. The little bungalow is photography studio or shop – you can see ‘Kodak’ on the outside wall – the Lee family had the Kodak franchise for the north of Ireland
The bungalow was sometime Alex Lee’s photography studio, and more recently, William M says, “We have many holiday photos taken by Tommy Grimason, the itinerarnt photographer, at different locations round Portrush and we always went here to collect the finished photos.”
Leander had the great outlook over the Blue Pool, as promoted in its advert in the Northern Whig and Belfast Post, May 1939 (left). Lily Lee saw the boy washed off the rocks there and made ‘a plucky rescue’, and was later awarded a Royal Humane Society certificate for her bravery, 1931.
Alex’s children went off to other careers. Their son Alex (the Percy Alexander Percy Lee, of the Kelly School register) trained as doctor and joined the RAF as medical officer – his wedding photo of 1939, in Norwood, London. The other newspaper clipping, 1942, show Leander continuing as boarding house, with Mrs Lee as the proprietor; the death of Alex (father) in 1947; and in 1951 Leander is being run by a Mrs Lindsay. Peter O’B writes, “I worked here as a waiter during summer holidays from Inst. Mrs Lindsay, the landlady, was a lovely person.”
With the end of that family branch in Portrush, Leander is put up for sale in February 1959 and it was bought by the Air Ministry in 1962, ‘a disused hotel’, for accommodation for RAF Portrush, as described above.
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Jumping forwards now, 1980s – the last advert for a catering training course at Leander that I see is 1984, if that employment training was replaced by other government schemes., like Enterprise Ulster. I see that the venue continued as a Government Training Centre and is listed in a ‘Second Chances for Adults’ book about Basic Education for Adults.
It’s phone number has sure expanded over the years, from being ‘Phone 67’ in the 1939 advert; to being ‘Phone 3367’ in 1951; to being “(0265) 823546” for the Adult literacy classes in rhe 1980s. And if it was still there, there would be one more digit in the dialing code.
The photo left, October 2010, but it is derelict, running down for demolition (photo https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2172988
Well, the big scripture verses stand forever but Leander is on the way out…… demolition, about 2011, eyesore clearances before the Irish Open. Photo courtesy Freddie Fleming
Leander was a B&B around the ’90s and 2000s – Mango writes that he used to live in the bungalow there with 10 polecats, about 2004. But I think the signs are on the wall – the Leander B&B lettering is disintegrating in the 2006 photo. In the property boom it is running down for demolition, with the ominous construction traffic just round the corner in Bath Terrace, in the 2006 photo. Its demolition is stalled by the financial crash, though Leander is abandoned, derelict and is just boarded up in in the 2010 photo. The eyesore, in such a prime spot, was demolished and the site grassed up for the Irish Open in 2012.
The site sat for a number of years after the Irish Open, then in better times was re-developed late 2010s. The photograph above, of the site clearance, shows:
on the left side, the the big scripture boards. Irene Peden says they’ve been there since about 1910, and Sheila Brown tells me behind the boards was where the Gospel Hall started, about 100 years ago.
on the right of the photo, the site clearance. A bit obscured by the telegraph poles is the countryside centre / coastal zone, originally the Portrush Baths (ie ‘Bath Rd / Street / Terrace), belonging to the Antrim Arms / Northern Counties, of 1868.
The photo below, left, (photo, courtesy (c) Trish Gray) is the development in progress, 2019; and below, right, the completed outcome (photo, author (c) October 2021).
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Overall you may despair that another old property with such a rich history has converted its function.
I think though that all the stories of landmarks in Portrush are of change, of innovation – like Leander House: a boarding house, family house, B&B, hotel, photography studio, accommodation for RAF Portrush, catering training, adult education, B&B, ……. All of them commercial, business – not standing still or preserving the past, they had to earn an income.
Ways of doing things change. Like, Mr and Mrs Lee were in it for the long-term, commited to doing business in Portrush their whole lifetime, serving the people of the town on the council, on the lifeboats, whatever. The next generation though maybe went off to pursue other interests, the RAF, study architecture, whatever.
Looking back, it is a shock that a building with over 120 years of history can be demolished so rapidly / a shiny new property built / sold for a tidy profit / and developers move on to new property project.
Still, compared to the dereliction of Leander House, to me the new block represents a super new investment in a Portrush property, with a next generation of visitors and residents, active and vibrant and boosting commerce and committed to the town.
Portrush Tales 