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No Smoking ! nothing new at the dolphin There I was going round the hotel putting the regulation signs up, which ban smoking, (don’t worry – I haven’t contravened any heritage signing rules) and I started to think about all the regulation signs that must have been put up over the centuries here at the dolphin. (no swords, no pistols, no spitting, no women…………………). Then it struck me – the dolphin has been non smoking before! From it’s inception as an inn in the 1200’s until the introduction of tobacco by Sir John Hawkins in 1565 the hotel was totally non smoking – I wonder what everyone was trying to give up then? The landlord of the dolphin at the time was a chap called Edward Wilmott, who incidentally was Sheriff in 1555, Mayor in 1559 and became an MP in 1558 (he wouldn’t have had time to go around putting signs up). All the fuss that is currently being made about public places becoming non smoking, must have been similar to the fuss and debate which ensued after the introduction of tobacco – these smelly ‘Herbert’s’ filling the room with foul smelling smoke – The Right Honourable Edward Wilmott (as he would then have been known) would have been inundated with questions from both staff and customers alike (nothing new there then) and he would have been expected to know all the answers (or there). Smokers must have had to stand outside, until it became socially acceptable and even then they would have been restricted to specific areas of the hotel (so as they didn’t cause a nuisance) and there must have been signs. So there you have it – the dolphin started as being non smoking for roughly 340 years then we had 342 years of having smoking and now we are returning it to non smoking. Don’t worry though The dolphin has created some delightful outside areas, where smokers can feed their vice. I wonder what in the future could be expelled for the greater good of the public at large – mobile phones would be a good start, but lets hope that it won’t take 342 years ! Bob Musker Current ‘Landlord’ The Dolphin High Street Southampton Tel: 023 8033 9955 Fax: 023 8033 3650 email: enquiries@thedolphin.co.uk |
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