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The Song of the Swan

 
 
Cover  -  Introduction  -  Chapter 1  - Chapter 2  -  Chapter 3  -  Chapter 4 
 
Chapter 5   -   Chapter 6   -   Chapter 7   -   Pictures
 
 

Introduction

Harrogate has grown in proportion to the number of its visitors, attracted from a wide area of Britain, over the 150 years until the post World War II era when, after the rehabilitation, the great British statesman, Harold Macmillan said, "Get off your office seats, go out into the world and sell your goods!" Harrogate responded with delegations being sent to the overseas managers of the British Travel Association, now upgraded to British Tourist Authority, in the United States of America, in Canada; to all the Scandinavian countries and throughout Europe. The delegations were told to invite warmly an invasion of visitors of unlimited numbers, of every nationality, to visit the land that had withstood hostile aggression and to sample in peace, its hospitality, its natural beauty, its architectural heritage, its culture, and perhaps above all, to practice its language.

Through membership of the Prestige Hotels consortium, the mission continues to all parts of the world to this day. Those who have come to Harrogate, come again and again to linger in the town, and to visit from it, the lovely Yorkshire Moors and Dales or ancient York itself, or to once again, stay a night on the way to London or Edinburgh, to North Wales or the English Lakes, for Harrogate is indeed a cultured delightful centre of Britain itself.

It is for those, most welcome guests of every nationality who want to know how, why, when it all began and what made it so, that this booklet has been written and the author is deeply grateful for the stimulation and interest visitors to Harrogate and The Old Swan Hotel have given him over the last thirty years of his endeavours to please them and make them feel truly welcome; he is also very conscious of the tradition he inherited and the achievement of the company and its directors over the last one hundred years since incorporation, 8th February, 1878.

Dear Customer, to me
In all things always right.
Only, may I wish you
Good Health and Appetite?

 

 
 
 

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