The destruction of the Royal Clarence Hotel by fire is a sad loss for Exeter (Report, 29 October). However, the oft-repeated suggestion that this was the first hotel in England when built around 1769 is incorrect. A more promising contender is the Gentlemen’s Hotel in St James’s Square, which was advertised in the London Evening Post in 1764 in the following terms: “Mrs Martin at the Gentlemen’s Hotel in King Street, Saint James’s Square, takes this opportunity of acquainting all Noblemen, Gentlemen, Foreigners and others, that they may be accommodated with genteel Lodgings for one Night, or as long as they think proper … Gentlemen who will please to honour her with their Commands, may depend on being attended in the best and politest Manner, by their humble Servant, M. Martin. NB It is the only Hotel in London.”
Peter Tyldesley
Law School, University of Exeter
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