The Cavendish Hotel
Sea Road
Felixstowe
Suffolk
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This section is just a round up of some of my best loved operations Check out the picture section and the where are they now section for more information
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The Cavendish Hotel Lament

We tried our best to save her
The brave defenders cry,
We didn't want to lose her
And she didn't want to die!

She's stood alone for decades
Against the eastern sky
She stood until at last she caught
The developer's greedy eye!

When quick returns and profit
are the order of the day,
The feelings of the people
are coldly thrown away.

They forgot the times of trouble
in the floods of `53,
Her doors flung wide in welcome
for the likes of you and me.

She gave shelter for the stricken
and all she had to give,
Now in times of trouble
should be allowed to live.
But now her face is fading
from salty North Sea air,
Within her walls a feeling
of sadness and despair.

Her masters signed the warrant,
She's served their purpose well.
They've sucked the life-blood from Her
I hope they rot in Hell!

But life goes on relentless,
as history writers tell.
And here once stood a building
we knew and loved so well.

So raise your glasses proudly
before they ring the bell.
The toast is, "Ann and Andrew"
and "THE CAVENDISH HOTEL".

If on an autumn evening
as the early mist rolls in,
You find yourself along the beach,
You'll hear a spooky din.

It's the ghostly sounds of E.Z.Lay
playing in the bar,
And Andrew Johnstone singing
Catch a falling star.

David J. West November 1987

Check out our where are thy now feature

Entertainment

Well its the mid 80s here we are at the Cavendish Hotel

Ricky James Sunday lunch Cavendish Hotel 1986

Felixstowe....here I am with Anita Dobson .......in the bar of course...and in colour...Tina...can we remember some names....Ray, Wendy, Charlie and her sister Jo, Chris, Tony, Sheila, and so many more.... I will remember or find some more pictures

Rick James....almost sober every Sunday Lunchtime....do you remember how he used to stop the open toped bus...and of course Tony and Alan the Gibson's also a regular....and the one and only E.Z LAY...the list goes on.. I also remember a band called BANE...is this the same band that is in the charts now?.....I have a very early tape

BANE. and the Cavendish posted 19.01.2007

Don't know when the Cavendish page was last updated, but I noticed you mention a band called BANE. This isn't the band in the charts, but a band comprising James Partridge (one time Parrot Records manager) and various others on drums and bass. Here's a link to a short biog: http://www.james.partridge.com/bane.htm I also have fond memories of The Cavendish. It would've been from the mid 70s to the early 80s, that myself, my brother and my parents made what seemed like weekly trips to Felixstowe. The trips comprised of swimming in the sea, Charlie Manning's rides, go-carts, chips, and ending up with a Coke in The Cavendish.
I think if it was somewhere like Aldeburgh, and not Felixstowe, it'd still be there today. Fate is an evil master.
Regards
Darren Olley.

The Staff and the Guests

The Cavendish Hotel Felixstowe and the Windsurf Club

Lets not leave out the valued customers...including the Felixstowe Windsurfers Club... below is a view of the new club house 1986 and the club president (me)... Carlsberg/Mistral Event 1986............where are you all now

Found Nick in the US check him out on Facebook:

Nick Meyer

http://bit.ly/d46qIP

Plus this site with great pictures on the good old days

Stephen Squirrell

Felixstowe Suffolk

E- Mail Received November 2006.....great memories....Thanks

I came across your (moonlight blue) website when looking for some information on the Cavendish Hotel on the seafront at Felixstowe. My youngest son had visited the site (actual, not web) when he visited in 1990 and brought me back a picture of an empty square surrounded by the old brick wall next to the fun park.
I read with interest the strange goings-on of 1986 and 1987 (your pictures).
I was in the RAF at Wattisham and my wife and young family lived in Felixstowe (initially Maidstone Road and later Cobbold Road). Each evening after work at Wattisham and at weekends I would attend my spare time job as a barman at the Cavendish Hotel. Oh happy days! What more could you ask for when your days were full of fighter jets like Hunters, Javelins, Lightning's (real TOYS for the big BOYS) - and your evenings were spent in the Saloon Bar at the Cavendish.
I worked at the Cavendish in 1962 and 1963. The saloon bar was MINE! I also worked in the Public when someone needed to be persuaded to leave the premises (Usually the same ones - there was never any trouble - not REAL trouble anyway).
I also worked in the posh (Lounge) usually on Saturday nights when the local gentry came in and had a meal.
But the best trips of all were when the Licensed Victualler's Association had their regular meetings (and they were held at the Cavendish every time) and we had to cater for an all night stoush! Boy, could those landlords go off when they're away from home. In those days the landlord was a large man name Russell (something). I'm really sorry I cannot do him the honour of remembering his surname. Russell and his wife were absolutely magic people. Most of the barmen were RAF from Wattisham or Felixstowe and Russell treated us like family. Indeed Christmas at the Cavendish included a sit-down dinner for all the staff and their families and nothing was spared. The best beer, the best spirits, and the best (I'd never heard of it before that night) vintage port.
I could go on, I'm sorry.
I don't know who to thank for some of the best times of my life. We daily lived in a dangerous world and went to work in it (I'm talking here about the Cold War, which for any of us serving men was pretty damned hot!). But at night (and weekends), there was the Cav and its denizens.

Alast