The Welcome of an Inn T HE Spectator is wholeheartedly in
support of the "Come to Britain" movement. It regards it as politically, socially and economically of the highest importance. But the traveller will not come to Britain unless there is a comfortable room and a good dinner waiting to welcome him. Therefore any scheme for giving us better inns and more of them, better rooms, and better dinners cannot fail to interest us. For this reason we welcome a little book by Mr. Charles G. Harper* which has just been published.
It is in form a reasoned catalogue of the Inns of England, compiled with a keen eye to betterment when required. Mr. Harper throws a good deal of light upon the strange and lamentable fact that up till a hundred and ten, or even a hundred and twenty, years ago we had the best inns in the world, whether for historic charm or for all the comforts and amenities which make up the welcome of an inn. The great posting houses often gave splendid evidence of the enterprise of those who owned them. The old inn-keepers did not hesitate to employ architects like Adam to add to their accommodation. As Mr. Harper notes, there is to-day at Shrewsbury an assembly room built and decorated by Robert Adam which once provided the dancing room for the guests of a great inn.
The writer remembers something of the same kind in the remains of a noble old coaching inn high up on a spur of Mendip.. Here two great roads crossed, and it was convenient to have a good inn so that the people coming up from South Wales and so forth might alight at the. Somersetshire house, stay a night, and catch a coach next day possibly to Scotland and the North, or, again, to London and the South. One danced in an octagonal room which the men of the former generation used to explain to us was merely the card room of the assembly room of the posting house—the place where the dowagers of both sexes played whist while the young people minuetted, quadrilled, waltzed, and flew to the rule of "Hands across and up the middle."
Why did the standard of comfort, especially in the matter of food, fall so low in the country inns that it now appears wellnigh incapable of revival ? Un- doubtedly, as we can see from accounts in Dickens' early novels, and from the references in Dr. Johnson, Miss Austen's letters, and a hundred other places, the posting houses provided most excellent food, and food not merely of the "rough plenty" order, but well cooked dishes in. great variety.
* The Historic and Picturesque Inns of Old England. (Burrows, Central House, Kingsway, London. 3s.) Mr. Harper gives an instance of an old inn near the site of Fotheringay Castle, which actually holds within it the great staircase of the demolished building. These stairs were pressed by the feet of Mary Queen of Scots, when, after she had heard the judgment of the court that tried her, she went to prepare for her execution. In a minor degree there is plenty of romance to be got out of the beautiful mediaeval inn built by the Abbots of Glastonbury to accommodate the humbler visitors to their famous Western shrine—the shrine where St. Joseph of Aritlunathaea planted the Glastonbury thorn. Clearly, what ought to be done is to preserve as a part of our national heritage the historic inns of the British Islands, and to make them once more able to win the praise bestowed by Macaulay in the famous passages of his History of England. He tells us there of the great part played during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by the English inns, and of their civilizing influence.
The historic traditions of an inn, however, .cannot possibly be a substitute for good beds and good dinners. What we should like to see, and what we feel sure might be done if the 'matter were handled by a good organizer, is the formation of a syndicate which would buy up the best of these British roadside inns which are attractive of themselves, and then by additions and internal, but not external, improvements of the old structures, make them places where the historic charm could be revived under proper conditions. The inns should, of course, all be raised to a good level of modern accommodation in the way of bathrooms and other such amenities. Further, there should be a proper standard in the matter of food. In other words, the syndicate should be able to advertise, and should advertise, their property as part of the " Come to Britain" movement. Just as that movement will, no doubt, advertise tours to see Prehistoric England, Roman England, the England of the Abbeys, the England of the Great Country Houses, the England of our Ancient Universities and Schools, and the England of unspoilt Villages and Farms, so the syndicate would advertise as one of the inducements to come to Britain her picturesque and historic roadside inns.
We, cannot doubt for a moment that such a scheme would be good business, not merely in the inns, but for the country_ as a whole. The railways, the shipping companies, the motor car interests whether in sale or hire, the motor 'bus companies, the shopkeepers in the big centres, and all the _hotels in London and at the chief-ports would benefit by the additional people who would come to England, and remain there often for many weeks if they were sure of the welcome of the country inns during their explorations, and that the welcome would not mean frowsty bedrooms and bad food, but an assured accommodation of good quality. That being so, we - think that the various interests we have named ought each of them be prepared to put up considerable sums of money to form the syndicate for purchasing and improving, let us say, five hundred historic inns throughout England. The money, would not have to be sunk. • The interests concerned would take shares in the syndicate, and under decent manage- ment they ought to be quite sure of a good dividend on their stock, and ample security for their capital, since they would possess very valuable assets in the houses purchased.
Further, we think that a good case might be made out for the Government guaranteeing the interest on a portion of the money required for a period of five or six years.
We have no doubt that, if Mr. Arthur Samuel turned his attention to the matter, he could devise a means for carrying our proposal out. Obviously, it is useless to invite people to come to England unless we are sure that they will have here the welcome every traveller from the New World desires and has a right to expect.
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