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Mount Ephriam
Royal Tunbridge Wells
01892 520331
http://www.spahotel.co.uk/
Above postcard, date unknown. http://roughwood.net |
Above postcard, date unknown. |
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From The Sphere, Saturday 29 May 1937.
Above photo 1937. |
Above photo, 1952. |
Above photo 2017. |
Above matchbox, circa 1980s, kindly sent by Debi Birkin. |
Originally built in 1766 as a country mansion and bought by Major Martin
Yorke in 1772, after serving under Lord Clive of India and making his
fortune with the East India Company.
The Hotel first opened its
doors as "The Bishops Down Spa Hotel", named after the Spa town of Tunbridge
Wells, in 1880.
It was advertised as "in a pleasant green oasis of lawns and trees in 60
acres of parkland, 400 feet up facing the southern sun. Sporting golf course
in the grounds. Solid comfort, quiet hospitality, plus the usual attractions
of Tunbridge Wells in early Summer. 85 rooms and suits. Private Bathrooms.
Cooking and service of a high degree of excellence."
Further research says it's on the edge of Tunbridge Wells, it is still
running in 2017 and has 70 bedrooms, and is situated in 14 acres of gardens
and parkland with parking for 150 cars.
Loot at their video
Click Here.
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From the Illustrated London News, Saturday 20 October, 1894.
The will of Mr. Robert Pringle Stuart, formerly of Pallanza, Lago
Maggiore, and late of the “Spa Hotel,” Tunbridge Wells, who died on
July 7, was proved on Oct. 2 by Franklin Richardson Kendall, Herbert
Basil Jupp, and the Rev. William Theodore Jupp, the acting
executors, the value of the personal estate in England amounting to
upwards of £12,000. The testator bequeaths all his household
furniture and effects to his wife, Mrs. Ellen Lydia Stuart; and £50
each to his executors. The residue of his real and personal estate
he leaves, upon trust, for his wife, for life. At her death he
directs legacies of £500 each to be paid to his nephews Clarendon
Stuart and Frederick Garling Stuart, and his great- niece, Mrs.
Louisa Denne; and the remainder of the said residue held, upon
further trusts, for his said two nephews for their lives and for the
life of the survivor of them. On the death of the survivor he
further bequeaths £5000 to be paid out of such part of his property
only as by law is applicable to charitable bequests, to the trustees
of the Pusey Memorial Fund, to be held by them upon trust for the
promotion of the study of Catholic theology and the inculcalation of
doctrine as set forth in the liturgies of the primitive Church, as
well as the study of the ancient Fathers of the Church prior to the
separation of East and West, and also as supplementary in accordance
to the teaching of the late Dr. E. B. Pusey. The testator then
states that he is desirous of promoting the study of Catholic
theology as set forth in the ancient liturgies of the primitive
Church, as well as the study of the writings of the early Fathers of
the Church prior to the separation of East and West as illustrating
and confessing the Catholic faith held by the undivided Church, and
also of the writings of the Rev. John Keble. He therefore bequeaths
out of such part of his estate only as by law is applicable to
charitable bequests, £3000 to the Warden, Council, and Scholars of
Keble College, Oxford, to be applied to and for the objects lastly
mentioned. The ultimate residue of his property he gives to the
Warden, Council, and Scholars of Keble College, to be applied for
such of the purposes of the said college as they in their absolute
discretion shall think proper.
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From the Courier, 15 October 1920.
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From the Kent and Sussex Courier, Friday 3 June, 1921.
DAYLIGHT ROBBERY AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS.
DARING JEWEL THEFT AT SPA HOTEL.
The “Spa Hotel,” Tunbridge Wells, was the scene of one of the most
daring robberies over perpetrated locally on Tuesday, the thief
getting away with a valuable haul of jewellery while the owner and
other gents were at luncheon.
The story reads like a chapter from the familiar modern tales of the
exploits of a “gentleman crackerman,” so coolly and quickly was the
robbery carried out and the “get-away” accomplished.
It opens at shortly after 11 o’clock on Tuesday morning, when the
smart pageboy at the hotel noticed about the place a well-dressed
stranger, who inquired the hour that luncheon was served. The answer
was “At noon.” Subsequently the uninvited visitor was observed
sitting in the lounge reading a paper, and the page-boy, mindful of
his duties, asked the stranger whether he could take his hat, to
which query he received a negative reply. Shortly before noon the
boy saw the man again seated in a deck-chair outside the hotel, near
the luggage entrance, but a few moments later he found that he had
gone.
Meantime, a married lady who had been staying at the hotel for about
two years past, and who occupied a suite of rooms on the second
floor to the front, had come downstairs to lunch, as usual. The door
of her room was left unlocked.
The thief had judged his opportunity well, and, with a familiarity
that indicates some prior knowledge, he appears ton have calmly
proceeded upstairs, to have entered the lady’s room, slid the inner
bolt as a precaution against sudden interruption, and then to have
turned his attention immediately to a locked trunk in which the
jewellery he sought were kept.
With practised ease he seems to have forced the lock, and, having
possessed himself of a considerable quantity of valuables and one £5
note and five £1 notes, he then made his escape by jumping from the
window, 14 feet up on to the lawn beneath. The marks of his heels as
he fell were plainly visible, and the extraordinary fact is that no
one saw him, as the window faces the road and is near the garden
seats provided for the use of visitors to the hotel.
The robbery was quickly discovered, for the mother of the owner of
the jewellery returned to the apartment as soon as she had finished
lunch, and then found she could not gain entrance.
Not thinking that anything was seriously wrong, she informed the
page-boy, and asked him to fetch the second porter, who finally got
a ladder and got into the room through the front window. To his
surprise he did not find that the lock had slipped, but that the
bolt had been “pushed home” from the inside.
By this time the owner had arrived on the scene, and the fact that
the trunk had been broken open was ascertained. It is noteworthy
that the drawers had not been ransacked and apparently nothing else
but the trunk disturbed.
Information was at once given to the police, and the Chief Constable
(Capt. S. A. hector), with Detective Hinton, were quickly at the
hotel. Capt. Hector is now engaged in directing active inquiries
with a view to the eventual capture of the daring thief and the
recovery of the missing valuables. It is perhaps significant, as
indicating how the thief got clean away, that about the time of the
robbery a London taxicab was seen in the Langton Road.
The officially circulated description of the wanted man is as
follows:- Height 5ft 8 or 9 inches; aged about 28 years; medium
build; clean shaven; sallow complexion; dark hair, parted at one
side; wearing blue suit, with soft collar and dark tie, black bowler
hat, and black boots with light rubber soles. He is further
described as of smart appearance and good address.
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From the Sphere, Saturday 11 May, 1940.
Above advert 1940. |
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From the
https://www.kentlive.news
The most brutal TripAdvisor comebacks from Kent pub and restaurant managers.
Customers leave some harsh reviews but owners have hit back at their
comments and in some cases the responses are ruthless.
TripAdvisor is the first port of call for many of us when deciding where
to eat.
Finding out how well rated a restaurant or pub is and what sort of
reviews it has can help make up your mind.
Some unhappy customers leave extremely harsh responses - so it's
understandable that owners are keen to respond to the criticism and put
the record straight.
Many owners take a considered approach, copy and pasting a standard
reply, apologising if the service was below par and inviting them to
send a proper email across.
Others aren't quite so measured and prefer to fire back from the hip.
Take a look below at some of the stronger responses from Kent venues.
'Impossible to investigate and quite irrelevant'
The Orangery & Lobby is part of the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge Wells.
Unfortunately, one customer endured their worst ever afternoon tea
there.
They waited six months, before calming down enough to write a scathing
review of the "Fawlty Towers style" service they received.
The manager curtly reminded the customer that as such a length of time
had passed, there wasn't much that could or needed to be done.
Reviewed 15 September 2019 via mobile
Worst ever afternoon tea.
Just awful From the moment we entered We were
on our own in the Orangery. There was classical music playing in the
lobby We asked if we could have some music After some Fawtty Towers
style shenanigans that I won’t bore you with They eventually put on some
techno/drum and bass - Seriously?! It was mystifying. One member of
staff didn't speak English so couldn't understand anything we were
asking We went for afternoon tea and we wanted to have a bottle of
champagne with it Firstly they didn't know what champagne they offered
or how much it cost After many discussions and then discovering they
didn't have much of what was on the wine list we managed to order They
brought the champagne and left it with us - unopened and with no glasses
or ice bucket We eventually sourced our own glasses by breaking into the
bar Afternoon tea sandwiches arrived and didn't appear to be anything
like the menu description The savoury options were inedible as the
picture shows. I've never tried to eat anything so horrible. Even a
sandwich picked up from a motorway service station at 3am would have
been markedly higher in quality. How hard can it be???? We all make
sandwiches in our homes and I couldn't even attempt to make something so
awful I don't even know how they do it The pastries looked okay but were
not made by a skilled chef The macarons were dusty and dry and had a
half inch thick filling. Not nice The only okay things were the scones.
A truly awful experience that I won t be repeating Ever.
SpaHotelTW. Manager at The Orangery & Lobby, responded to this review.
Responded 5 weeks ago Thank you for your review.
As your review has been posted 6 months after you visited, and we have
improved our menu since then which is very well received and have almost
an entirely new team, this review is impossible to investigate and quite
irrelevant to prospective guests Thank you for sharing your experience
nonetheless.
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LICENSEE LIST
STUART Robert Pringle 1891-July/94 dec'd (age 86 in 1891 )
HANCOCK S P 1937+
Census
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