Watchet's Heritage - The Esplanade Club
This popular watering hole dates back to the nineteenth century when it appears to have been
built soon after the construction of the Esplanade in 1843. Prior to this, where the Esplanade
is today was just a shingle beach and was built under the instruction of the Wyndham Estate
to safeguard properties that were becoming damaged by the incoming tides.
The original shape of the building may suggest that its purpose was as a sailmaking and repair workshop. The earliest known photographs indicate that there were no doors or windows and so clearly not a dwelling. In the early years of the 20th century, it was for a time the Ladies conservative (with a small c) Club and later in the 1930s, it became a private club for the exclusive use of the staff of the transmitting station a few miles away at Washford Cross (now the home of Tropiquaria) and was known as the BBC Club.
This building, holding a prime position on the Esplanade, was purchased by a group of Watchet businessmen for the benefit of the town and is now a popular and well-used community asset. The building, with its licensed premises on the ground floor and a snooker club and private offices above, is now administered by a group of trustees - long-term Watchet residents.
For further information about the town as a whole,
please visit the home page or click
Here
This page is provided by Watchet Conservation Society with the help of Watchet Chamber of Trade
and with funding from Somerset West & Taunton Council's High Street Emergency Fund.
Text and history provided by Nick Cotton