Formerly named the Imperial Arcade Hotel, Smith had worked in the building as managing director of the Grand Central Coffee Palace.

[1] He acquired the lease for the old hotel in 1896 for £12 per week, eventually purchasing and renaming it the Arcadia.

[2] The publican's licence, previously held by William Charles Parkes, was transferred to Smith on 31 July 1899.

[3] In September 1899, the hotel narrowly escaped a fire in the adjoining Tivoli Theatre.

[4] On 2 November 1922, the publican's licence of the hotel was transferred from Vincent Walsh to Otto Camphin,[5] and later, on 26 February 1936, from Otto Camphin to Edward Thomas Pearson Meldrum, an accountant,[6] who held the licence until at least August 1948.