Haven Hotel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Haven Hotel | |
|---|---|
 The Haven Hotel | |
 Interactive map of the Haven Hotel area | |
| General information | |
| Location | 161 Banks Road, Sandbanks Dorset, England BH13 7QL |
| Coordinates | 50°40′59″N 1°56′50″W / 50.683°N 1.9472°W |
| Management | FJB Hotels |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 3 |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 84 |
| Number of suites | 2 |
| Number of restaurants | 1 |
| Website | |
| http://www.fjbhotels.co.uk/haven-hotel/ | |
The Haven Hotel is a historic AA four star hotel in Sandbanks, near Poole, Dorset on the south coast of England.
The hotel dates from the Victorian era and was used by wireless telegraphy pioneer Guglielmo Marconi.
The North Haven Inn was originally built on the site in 1838. This building was demolished and replaced with the present Haven Hotel in 1887.[1]
From 1898 – 1926, the Haven Hotel was home to the Italian inventor and physicist, Guglielmo Marconi,[2] who built a 120-foot (37 m) wooden transmitter mast in the hotel’s grounds at the hotel in 1898, and another 158-foot (48 m) wireless mast at the back of the hotel. He carried out some of his first wireless telegraphy experiments at the Haven Hotel.[3] Marconi lived at the Haven Hotel until 1926, where he took his meals at a communal table where all guests were invited to eat. Following dinner, there was often a musical interlude with Guglielmo accompanying his guests on the piano.
Other notable guests include Robert Browning, John Major,[1] and the Real Madrid football team in 2014.
During the First World War, the Haven Hotel housed Belgian refugees. Throughout the Second World War, the Haven Hotel was a military contact point and a Naval detachment. In 1976, The Haven Hotel was purchased by the hotel chain FJB Hotels.
In 2017, a planning application was made to demolish the hotel and build a six-storey apartment block on the site, resulting in thousands of letters of objection from members of the public. It was announced in April 2021 that Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Council would rule on the application in "the coming months".[4]
