The Alex. – an ongoing detective story

Bridlington Augustinian Society – The Alex. 

We all like detective stories. Bro Martin Wallace shared the juicy stories, false leads, evidence discovered, and on-going revelations that led to his successful books about Bridlington’s grand Alexandra Hotel.

When Bro Martin retired to the town he bought an apartment unaware that his block occupies the site of what was the Alexandra Hotel. Until, that is, he spied an old photograph. Hotels like the Alex have a wealth of tales to tell about the owners, the people who work there and the many visitors.

His talk included stories of visitors linked to royal intrigue (when a Prince had to give evidence in court), an acid bath murderer, people with political connections, and well known entertainers. Who would believe that when the Rolling Stones finished a gig what they wanted most was a nice cup of tea.

He talked of the owners, including the respectable Hatje family and the chancer Percy Newbound, and also the staff.   He mentioned two chefs, whose very different futures were decided by experiences at the Alex, and an 87 year old cook caught stealing.

Bro Martin was keen to stress how thankful he is for the help he has received from the welcoming and warm people of Bridlington.  Help came from Facebook groups, people’s reminiscences, and of course the Bridlington Augustinian Society.

He said getting the building story right included a lot of pictorial and oral archaeology. One example given concerned the whereabouts of the statue of Pandora that stood on the hotel lawn. Some say it went to Haisthorpe Hall. Others said that it is in Sewerby Hall walled garden. One photograph shows Pandora looking over the wrong shoulder for it to be the Sewerby statue, but could the photograph have been flipped?

The hotel was built in 1866 and demolished in 1976. Bro Martin has concluded that maybe it was economically just as fragile to run a hotel like the Alex at the beginning as it was at the end.

The Vote of thanks was given by Bro George Parrott who thanked Bro Martin for his enjoyable talk.