The Regent Hotel is a hotel in the town of Leamington Spa

Leamington Spa

Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...

, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. In recent times the hotel, like the town, has seen a decreasing number of guests from the celebrity and nobility circles. It has however had a colourful past with many famous guests and interesting events and is still by far the finest and most famous hotel in the town. It is located right in the centre of the town on The Parade, not far from the town's other attractions and only a ten minute walk away from Leamington Spa railway station

Leamington Spa railway station

Leamington Spa railway station serves the town of Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, England. It is situated on Old Warwick Road towards the southern edge of the town centre.-History:...

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History

The first steps towards building the hotel came in 1809 with the purchase of the triangular plot of land to build on, which cost £1,000, quite a sum in those days. The foundation stone was laid some eight years later on 18 July 1818 by the granddaughter of the original landowner. The hotel was officially opened on 19 August 1819. It was during the early years that the hotel had its most famous visitor, Princess Victoria, the future Queen Victoria. In 1830 the princess, age 11, stayed overnight at the hotel with her father. Eight years later from the balcony of the hotel it was announced that Victoria, now Queen, had allowed the prefix Royal on its name, which the town still bears to the day. In these early days the hotel was one of the largest in Europe with over 100 rooms. In these early days the hotel was not just a place where the wealthy tourists stayed whilst 'taking the waters' but it was also an important meeting place for local gentry

Gentry

Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....

 and landowners, those who were to shape the future of the town.

The first of the Regent Hotel's famous set of sporting visitors stayed at the hotel on 8 April 1882. This group of aristocratic

Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

 men had held a few other meetings around the county and had formed a cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 team. It was on this date however that Warwickshire County Cricket Club

Warwickshire County Cricket Club

Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

 formally came into existence. In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, according to Billy Wright's autobiography Captain of England the England national football team

England national football team

The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

 used to meet before they travelled to away matches abroad. More recently the cast and crew of the British comedy Keeping Up Appearances

Keeping Up Appearances

Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...

including Patricia Routledge

Patricia Routledge

Katherine Patricia Routledge, CBE is an English character comedy actress and singer. She is best known for her role as character Hyacinth Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and Hetty Wainthropp in the British television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates...

, Clive Swift

Clive Swift

Clive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...

 and Geoffrey Hughes

Geoffrey Hughes

Geoffrey Hughes, DL is an English actor.As well as a wide range of TV and film appearances, Hughes is best known for a series of supporting roles in popular UK television dramas...

 stayed at the hotel whilst filming in Leamington.

The Hotel today

For some years now the hotel has been a Grade II* listed building. In 1998 the hotel fell on hard times and closed its doors. There was even talk of the hotel being demolished which lead to an outcry amongst the residents of the town. In 2003 however it was decided that the hotel was to be extensively redecorated and refurbished as part of a scheme to regenerate the area around it. The hotel reopened in March 2005 with 54 rooms. The total cost of the work was £3 million. Although the facade had changed little, most of the ground floor is now used for as a buffet

Buffet

A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events...

 restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 and the hotel itself, occupying the other floors, is a Travelodge

Travelodge UK

Travelodge Hotels Limited is a private company operating in the hotels and hospitality industry throughout the United Kingdom. Branded simply as Travelodge or Travelodge UK, it is the second largest in the budget hotel sector and third biggest hotel chain in the UK by number of bedrooms...

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