3 Bene’t Street, Bath Hotel

History of 3 Bene't Street

1542 site of house lived in by University Registrar, John Mere. Mere had a rose garden on either side of the house which he bequeathed to the University on condition that a University sermon be delivered in his name each year.

The Bath hotel is of two storeys with cellars and attics.  The original L-shaped building is from the 17th cent. It was altered in the 18th and then extended. The interior fittings include some reused panelling from circa 1600.

1861

John Peeling, 59, cook, b Norfolk

1871 (3)

Peeling

1881 Bath Hotel

Hammond

1891 Bath Hotel

Arthur R Moyes, 30, hotel keeper, b Chesterton

1933

Corpus Christi College bought The Bath Hotel

1940s-50s:

(Email from LC 2023) I understand my mother ran a ‘cocktail bar’ at the Bath Hotel during the late 40s-early 50s.  I believe this to be at the Bath Hotel.  My grandmother would take me to see ‘Uncle’ Billy at the Bath Hotel if we were in town on a Saturday.  This could have been the same person!?   I attach a photo of my mother in situ, wherever it was, it was definitely in Cambridge.  Five shillings on the till was probably a whole round of drinks then!

Possibly bar at Bath Hotel circa 1950 (from LC)

1962

The Bath Hotel, W R Kinsey, manager

30/10/1973 Plans by a London catering company to convert the 17th century Bath Hotel in Bene’t St, Cambridge, into a steak bar rival to the Turks Head have been vetoed by Corpus Christi College who own the site. Dr Peter Lewis said, “We don’t want to change the atmosphere of the Bath Hotel and these plans would have done that too drastically”. The Bath Hotel is basically a 17th century building with extensive 18th century modifications. West End Catering, who put forward the proposal said, “The college’s grounds for refusal are absolutely unreasonable and invalid. The dons seemed to be examining our plans as a viable place for them to eat instead of examining them in terms of popular catering” (Cam.News)

2018

The Bath House