The town of Ellesmere Port has the distinction of knowing the date upon which it was conceived. On 31 August 1791 a group of businessmen with interests in the local iron and limestone industries, met to discuss how best to improve the transportation of materials from the Shropshire and Welsh border areas. It was agreed that a canal linking the rivers Dee, Severn and Mersey would be developed.


William Jessop was appointed Chief engineer to the project and Jessop later recommended a young engineer called Thomas Telford to be his agent for the project (the names of many of the Hotel's conference rooms pay tribute to the great engineers of the era). On 30 April 1793, consent of Parliament was obtained and construction on the first phase of the project began. The site on which the Hotel stands has been operating as a canal terminal since 1795 when the series of locks situated at the Western end of the Hotel car park was opened. Originally called the Whitby Locks after the nearest village to the site, the name later changed and the first reference to 'Ellesmere Port' is recorded in 1796.



Initially, the canal carried mainly people, travelling from Chester to Liverpool. A small Inn was constructed to accommodate passengers waiting for the connecting craft, which would carry them over the tidal waters of the Mersey to Liverpool. Later the area developed into a great freight terminal, and in 1828, in response to competition from the developing railway network, Thomas Telford was once again commissioned to prepare plans for the extension and improvement of the site. Much of what can be seen in the vicinity of the Hotel today was constructed at this time, including many of the larger buildings at the Boat Museum, and the Waterways leisure and conference centre, which started out life as a China Clay Shed. The new complex of basins locks and buildings was finally opened in 1843, after Telfords death.

The slow decline in the use of canals for the transportation of commercial goods came to a close in the late 1940's and though goods were still stored in the warehousing on the docks until the early 1950's, the Dock Estate finally closed in 1958. The estate fell into disrepair, and by the early 1970's much of the site was structurally unsafe. The Borough Council, after some deliberation agreed that the site could be used by a group of enthusiasts as a Museum, to house their collection of Boats and memorabilia and the North Western Museum of Inland Navigation was born.

Through enthusiasm and determination, the volunteers together with the Borough Council and several external agencies concerned with the regeneration of the area, have created the outstanding environment that exists today. The Lower Basin where the Hotel, offices and apartments are located, was the last area to be completed. The Holiday Inn Ellesmere Port/Chester was constructed on an island in the centre of the basin, at the heart of a network of locks and waterways, and has a truly unique waterside setting. The Hotel was officially opened by His Grace the Duke of Westminster on Saturday 21st October 1995, and has since become an integral part of the local community.