Grapes Hotel

Below are two postcards showing the interior of ‘Ye Grotto’ at the Grapes Hotel in Exchange Avenue, I think Gracie Fields would have approved of the decor. At one time known as the West India Coffee House the Grapes was lost in the 1941 blitz. The card showing H. G. Watjen as proprietor was posted in March 1916.

West India Coffee House
1775. ? Edmons
1793. John Irish
1806. James Thomas
1820 - 23. Joseph Gellett
1826 - 28. R. Batterbury
1832 - 49. Charles King
1852. Harriet King
1853. William Davis
1855 - 61. William Adams
1861 - 65. Robert Adams
1869 - 77. Marianne Adams

Grapes
1877 - 78. A. Baynton
1880. S. Leach
1882 - 83. Alfred Marshall
1885 - 88. William Russell (jnr)
1893 - 94. Alred Marshall
1897. Alfred Adams
1899 - 1906. Thomas Bennett
1909 - 15. Herbert Watjen
1916. Albert Forbes

Ye Grotto
1917. Albert Forbes
1919. William Whitehead
1921 - 27. Albert Forbes
1928 - 38. Walter P. Rutter
1940. R.Dyer

GRAPES HOTEL Exchange Avenue

CENSUS 1841.
Charles King 55, inn keeper, not born in county
Harriett King 40, not born in county
Elizabeth B...? 20, servant, not born in county
Edward B...? 15, servant
Mary Bennett 20, servant

CENSUS 1861.
Robert Adams 53, head married, inn keeper, Devonshire
Maria A. Adams 53, wife married, Devonshire
Caroline Adams 22, daughter unmarried, Gloucestershire
James Adams 9, son scholar, Bristol
Martha Fisher 27, servant unmarried, waitress, Somerset