By Aled Jones
Copyright thescarboroughnews
Edwardian promenaders are caught in the moment, showing off the latest fashions of the day. How glorious the Spa looks in this view from 1910, seen from the South Promenade on a beautiful summer’s day. It shows the elegance of that period and the refinement of the town in those days. The scene is unashamedly stylish – men in smart suits and boaters, women dressed in glamorous attire. Promenading and parading, of course, were a popular pastime at seaside resorts. The fashionable dressed in their finery for one purpose only – to see and be seen! In Victorian and Edwardian times leisure and entertainment was often very much governed by social class. The Spa was privately owned by Messrs. Whitaker of Horsforth, Leeds, who had bought a large parcel of land and turned it into a garden oasis. Five acres (2 ha) were laid out with grassy slopes, flower beds, walks, summer houses and an ornamental lake fed by a Chalybeate Spring located to the west of the quay. This mineral Spring supplied a number of on-site drinking fountains, and the iron-rich water was also packaged in stoneware vessels and sold nationally. Visitors would flock to the Spa to drink the ‘miracle’ waters, reputed to have medicinal properties. When folk weren’t strolling and walking, they’d be enjoying the theatre and concert hall, bandstand and oriental tea room. The latter was owned by Field’s who ran a second establishment on the Esplanade There was also a shop devoted just to chocolate, owned by one Maria Eastwood! When our postcard was printed the resident conductor at the Spa was Herr Julius Kändt and his band. Early in 1909 the first silent films were being shown at the Spa Opera House; this craze soon led to the new picture palaces. With so much to see and do, it’s hardly surprising that the Spa regularly attracted 100,000 visitors a month! Entrance was not free, however – a daily ticket cost 6d. Following the opening of the Spa Wall and the Spa, the south side expanded rapidly, for example the residential development of South Marine Drive, Horsforth Avenue, Belgrave Road and Cardigan Road. The Corporation bought the Spa complex in 1919 for £10,000, a bargain price by all accounts.
