January 2025 – Research by Dr James Herring
One of Dunbar’s long lasting hotels began life as The Albert Temperance Hotel in 1902. The photo below shows the hotel portrayed on a 1936 Valentine’s postcard. You can read more about the history of the postcard firm here. (Note – all links open in a new tab)The valuation rolls for 1903- 1905 show that the Proprietor/Occupier was Mrs Maria Lyall – see here for this and other temperance hotels in Dunbar. Mrs Lyall was owner until 1912 when the hotel is registered to Mrs Lily Wilson Gilhespy.
The Berwickshire News and General Advertiser of 27 September 1910 contained the article below. It is not clear whether Mrs Gillespie – daughter of Mr and Mrs Lyall – might be a mis-spelling of Gilhespy or just a coincidence. A chaste gold bangle was given to married women to ensure fidelity and reverence for your spouse and to unmarried women to ensure chastity before marriage. Lily Gilhespy is registered as proprietor until 1921 and from 1922-1925 (from 1925 valuation roll) when it passes to her father George Henry Gilhespy. Why this change occurred is not known although it does seem strange.
The 1935 brochure promoting Dunbar, entitled Dunbar for Health and Happiness has the advert shown in the photo below. Note that the hotel is still referred to as a Temperance Hotel. In the same brochure, the Hillside Hotel, also a temperance hotel, is listed as Unlicensed. G H Gilhespy is still the proprietor. Mr Gilhespy was a town councillor at one time and this is noted in the death notice in the Edinburgh Evening News 14 May 1938. The hotel was sold to new owners as the valuation roll for 1940 shows the proprietor as Jesse Boyd Lyle.
The hotel was owned and run by two sisters in the 1950s and early 1960s and remained a temperance hotel until it was bought by J and H Wood. The advert for the hotel shown below comes from a 1968 brochure entitled Dunbar The Official Guidebook and was produced by Dunbar Town Council. Note that compared to the picture of the hotel in the 1936 postcard above, the ALBERT HOTEL TEMPERANCE sign at the side of the hotel has been removed and a new sign has been put up on the wall. Like other hotel adverts in this brochure, the hotel is still stressing that all rooms have hot and cold water. An advert in 1936 would not include Razor points or Television lounge. Also, the tone of the 1968 advert is much lighter, wishing visitors a happy holiday. The 1935 hotel adverts all adopt a much more formal tone.
The hotel later became The Goldenstones Hotel, briefly The Rossborough Hotel and is now The Dunmuir Hotel.
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