Royal Pump Room Museum Harrogate

The Royal Pump Room recalls the elegance of a bygone era.

The splendid octagonal Royal Pump Room was built in 1842 as the centrepiece of Britains only truly European spa. At that time Harrogate was the place to see and be seen - It was said that there could have been a meeting of the cabinet in the Pump Room because so many members of the government visited Harrogate during the season.

The Lords Byron and Tennyson were included amongst the distinguished visitors, as was Charles Dickens who described Harrogate as the queerest place with the strangest people in it leading the oddest lives.

The crowds who came to Harrogate during the season quickly outgrew the octagonal Pump Room, and a fashionable new cast iron annexe was added in 1913, officially opened by the Lord Mayor of London.

Visit venue website