hospitality

Village Farm

This page is one of several pages which are based on articles in our book entitled Royal Leamington Spa, A History in 100 Buildings which was published in 2018 and is no longer in print. The demise of public houses in the local area has prompted a phase of demolition with replacement by housing; not … Read more

Star and Garter Inn

Nineteenth-Century Leamington boasted well over 300 pubs and beer houses. Many of these have been demolished or used for other purposes. However, The Star and Garter, at Nos 4 and 6 Warwick Street, survived and is now the oldest Leamington pub still in operation on the same site today. According to local historian Lyndon Cave, … Read more

Regent Hotel

The Regent Hotel opened on 19th August 1819, – amongst the earliest of the buildings erected north of the River Leam as the Spa expanded.  On a triangular plot, it was wedged between Regent Street, the Parade, and what later became Regent Grove and the site of the new Town Hall. The land had once belonged … Read more

Parthenon

As the town became a fashionable spa, people needed entertainment when not taking the waters. Bath Street was close to several baths in the town and in 1814 John Sims opened a theatre there, opposite Abbotts’ Baths. Two years later Robert William Elliston (1774-1828), an actor-manager from the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London took it over. He … Read more

New Inn

Benjamin Satchwell and William Abbotts were credited with the initial development of Leamington as a spa town. Once a source of spa water was discovered by Satchwell and Abbotts in 1784 on land belonging to Abbotts in Bath Lane (later Bath Street) a bath house was built and Satchwell set about promoting Leamington Priors as … Read more

Manor House, Leamington

Built as the Wise family home in the Queen Anne style in about 1740 with a handsome Chippendale staircase and two dovecotes at the foot of a three-acre garden, the Manor House subsequently saw many alterations and adaptations. When Matthew Wise married, he built Shrubland Hall on the outskirts of the town, leaving the Manor House to become … Read more

Samuel Shepheard Stanley of Sydenham Farm, 1848 – 1921

Samuel Shepheard Stanley was one of four sons and four daughters of John and Sarah Stanley of Sydenham Farm. He was born in 1848 and with his siblings was taught at home by a governess.  His older brother Joseph later became the farm manager, and eventually took over from their father. Another brother ran The … Read more

Warwick Brewery

This page is a Summary of a Research Paper which can be viewed HERE (pdf document). The Author Updated this document in May 2021. The Leamington History Group is pleased to publish the fruits of this research because some of the ale brewed in Wallace Street, Saltisford, Warwick was imbibed in pubs in Leamington Spa. … Read more

Castle Brewery

This is a summary of a Research Paper which may be viewed by Clicking Here Long before the subject brewery coexisted with a hotel, the Brunswick Street premises were known as the Castle Tavern and – according to an 1816 entry in the licensed victuallers’ records – its first licensee was Joseph Baker; it would … Read more

Leamington Spa Ale & Porter Brewery, Wise Street

Leamington Spa Ale & Porter Brewery [AKA: Public Brewery, Regent Brewery, Leamington Brewery] Wise Street Summary This is a summary of a Research Paper which may be viewed by Clicking Here Researching and piecing together this brewery’s history was particularly interesting because so little is known about it and even less has been written – … Read more