The Schooner Hotel & Bar is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

17th century

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...

and hotel located at 8 Northumberland Street in the coastal village of

Alnmouth Alnmouth () is a coastal village in Northumberland, England, situated east-south-east of Alnwick. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 Census was 562, reducing to 445 at the 2011 Census. Located at the mouth of the River Aln, the vil ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The hotel lies on the main High Street and is recognizable by its whitewashed walls and black painted shutters. In the 19th century the 32-room hotel had a considerable reputation with a clientele of people such as

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was an Anglo-South African actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume drama ...

, and King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

of Great Britain. The Schooner has been in decline for a number of years under the current owners, leading to unprecedented legal action by the Trading Standards department of the local county council.

Architecture

The Schooner Hotel became a Grade II listed building on 31 December 1969. It is a whitewashed building with black shutters, originally built in the 17th century. It was extended in the early 19th century and again towards the end of the 19th century. It is built from tooled squared stone, three storeys high (excluding the cellar), and has 5 + 3 bays. The older section on the left has half-glazed doors with from the 20th century with an old segmental-headed arch at right end. The roof is made from Welsh slate roof, with 2 chimney stacks rebuilt in yellow brick. In the 2010s the rear portion of the hotel was renovated and turned into six separate properties; 3 apartments and 3 townhouses. The land behind the hotel that used to contain the Alnmouth Squash Courts is scheduled for further development into 7 houses. The first request for 8 houses was rejected due to insufficient information about

contaminated land Contaminated land contains substances in or under the land that are definitively or potentially hazardous to health or the environment. These areas often have a long history of industrial production and industrial farming. Many sites may be affect ...

and archaeology. The second application was approved.

Haunting

Sixty individual apparitions and more than 3,000 sightings have been recorded, making it (according to The Poltergeist Society of Great Britain) the most haunted hotel in the country.

References

External links

*{{Official website Coaching inns 17th-century establishments in England Grade II listed pubs in Northumberland Hotels in Northumberland Reportedly haunted locations in North East England Alnmouth