A POPULAR Isle of Wight hotel is celebrating its 200-year anniversary with style over the next three months.
Holliers Hotel, on Church Road in Shanklin, is running a series of themed weekends to mark the big occasion – depicting different periods in the building’s history.
From July through to September, its staff are donning all manner of costumes and guests are invited to take part in the celebrations, with an ever changing, period-appropriate nibble at the bar – the first being Eve’s pudding.
This weekend, guests can tuck into Victoria sponge cake, and other nibbles on the horizon include parsnip cake, carrot cake, coronation chicken, pineapple and cheese on sticks, cocktail sausages, turkey twizzlers, and birthday cake.
Holliers Hotel was built in 1824 by a gentleman called William Willamson, who named it Williams Inn, after himself.
It was the first hotel in the bay (Sandown, Lake and Shanklin), and during its first year, a local newspaper reported that the hotel had done well and served nearly 50 coaches.
However, back then, a coach meant a horse drawn carriage, so not too many.
The following year, the paper reported that the hotel was going from strength to strength, serving just over 100 coaches.
Sometime toward the end of the 1800s the hotel was bought by the Hollier family, and they decided to change the name.
It is reported that at that time the family name was spelt Hollyer.
They sent away for new signage, and when it arrived all was not well – their name was misspelt, the Y replaced with an I.
It is believed the family decided to change their name because it was “the cheapest option”.
The family also had a daughter, who at the time was considered to have been very well travelled because she had been to London.
It is said she returned from a trip to the capital city and demanded the thatched roof be ripped off and replaced with the new thing she had seen – tiles.
The roof was shiny and different, so people came from miles around to see it – a far cry from today, where thatch is a symbol of wealth rather than poverty.
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