Description:Situated at the road junction by the Rugeley Trent Valley railway station entrance, the Railway Commercial Hotel is strictly speaking in Colton Parish. It was probably built around 1862-64. The proprietor at the time of this photograph was Mr Rolland H. Kingham. The hotel served Butler's ales, wines and spirits, and supplied luncheons, dinners and teas as well as stabling accommodation and loose boxes. To the right is a horse-drawn mail cart which would transport the mail from Rugeley Post Office to the railway station and vice versa. To the left of the door is a motor cycle and rider.
The Hotel was extant by 1864 as the Railway Inn when the proprietor was Benjamin Yates. Dusring the 1960s is was briefly Wilf and Rosa's Tavern, named for the owners at the time. It adopted its current name, The Yorkshireman, in about about 1969. Coincidentally or not, Rolland H. Kingham was born in Yorkshire.
Image from 'Staffordshire Past and Present: An Historical Pictorial & Descriptive Guide' published in 1911 and edited by J.W. Bradley.