The present day township of Hoylake grew up around the small fishing village of Hoose. The first development came in 1792, when Sir John Stanley built the Royal Hotel for those wishing to visit and take part in the new pastimes of sea bathing and taking a holiday. The hotel stood in Stanley Road opposite what is now the seventeenth green of the Royal Liverpool golf links. Packets sailing between Liverpool and North Wales used to call at the hotel. Later in the 1840's in front of the Royal Hotel a racecourse was laid out. The last meeting was on 8 April 1876, when only seventeen horses turned up for the four races. Now the former racecourse is the site of Royal Liverpool Golf Club's links.
During the 1860's the Stanley Hotel was opened and numerous villas and houses in and around Kings Gap Road. In 1866, the newly opened railway from Birkenhead gave easy access to the area. Prior to the railway horse drawn omnibuses had run daily to and from Birkenhead every morning and evening. To meet the needs of this growing community shops were built along Market Street.
On Meols Drive grand mansions were built around the 1900's, these had views out over the golf-links to the Welsh mountains. At the same time, new roads and houses were being laid out between Kings Gap, in the direction of the original village of Hoose, now the centre of Hoylake, where the properties were smaller. This reflected the diversity of the new community that was settling within the vicinity during this phase of rapid growth.

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