1837 Dolphin Hotel Bill, Cleethorpes

An original hotel bill dated 26 August 1837, issued by Mary Maltby, proprietor of the Dolphin Hotel, Cleethorpes, and now held in the Grimsby & Cleethorpes Museum collection.

The bill provides a fascinating glimpse of the cost of staying at the Dolphin Hotel in the early Victorian period. It appears to relate to a party of two adults and two children, with separate charges for children’s breakfasts and two children’s teas. Other charges include breakfasts, tea, supper, lunch, wine, porter, servants’ catering and ale, hay and corn for horses, a bath and lodgings. The final bill came to £2 12s 4d.

The Museum also holds another Dolphin Hotel bill issued by Mary Maltby, dated October 1842. The later printed bill provides a much fuller list of the hotel's services and facilities, including board, meals, wine and spirits, tobacco and cigars, shrimps and oysters, bathing, washing, letters and parcels, and accommodation.

Together, these two bills, issued five years apart during Mary Maltby’s tenure at the Dolphin Hotel, provide a fascinating insight into the services offered by the hotel and the cost of staying at Cleethorpes during the early Victorian period.

1837 Mary Maltby Dolphin Hotel Cleethorpes

4 Breakfasts — 6/- Children’s 4 Breakfasts — 4/-

2 Teas — 3/- 2 Children's Teas — 2/- 2 Suppers — 3/- Lunch — 3/- Wine — 1/6 Porter — 0/9 Servants catering & Ale — 7/3 Horses Hay & Corn — 4/4

£1 14/10

Bath — 2/6 Lodgings — 6/- Servants — 6/- Bottles — 1/6

Carried over — £2 10/10

Bars — 0/6 Bottles — 1/-

Grand Total — £2 12/4

26 Aug. 1837

Historical note: According to a 1955 article in the Grimsby Daily Telegraph, drawing on an 1842 gazetteer and directory, the building was erected about 1820. It was originally known simply as “The Hotel”, later becoming known as “Cleethorpes Hotel” and “Dolphin Inn”. It was owned by Mary Maltby.