AFTER we reported plans had been approved to demolish Lymm Hotel, we thought it was time we had a look back at the summer football legend Pele stayed there.

Lymm (Villafont) Ltd’s application to replace the historic site on Whitbarrow Road with a 66-bed residential care home, 45 retirement apartments and a children’s nursery was approved by councillors despite more than 180 objections from residents.

The hotel gained fame after the Brazil team used it as their base during the 1966 World Cup.

READ > Councillors apologise after approving plans to demolish hotel where Pele stayed

During the 2010 World Cup, a Warrington football memorabilia collector dropped into the Warrington Guardian office to share images from a scrapbook of Pele's time in Lymm.

He bought the album at a Bonhams Knightsbridge auction in 2006 for £250 but didn't want to be named in any story we printed.

All he wanted was for more residents to be able to see the photographs.

 

The Brazil team were hot favourites to win the competition when they stayed in Lymm but crashed out at the group stage with England memorably going on to win the tournament.

Pele said in his autobiography he enjoyed his stay in Warrington but some of the players were woken up by trains due to a line that used to pass the hotel.

Pictures in the album show the players looking happy and relaxed and signing autographs for young fans.

There is also a picture with a woman, who the collector believed could have put the album together.

 

The album also included tickets from Brazil’s games at Everton's ground Goodison Park and a Portuguese postcard wishing the team all the best and hoping it is not too noisy at the hotel for Brazil forward Tostao to sleep.

A schedule, put up in the hotel, with the team’s daily routine during the build-up to their first game against Bulgaria was also glued to a page.

The timetable included trips to Bolton for training and Everton to get a look at the ground before their game before it was lights out or ‘silencio’ at 11pm each night.