The hotel's peak was arguably during Victorian times, when wealthy holidaymakers made up the establishment's clientele.

As Scarborough was a spa town, the building's baths originally included an extra pair of taps, so guests could wash in seawater as well as fresh.

The connection was extended to the cricket ground in the late 1940s, when staff from the hotel would serve food and drink to the players.

The bombardment, by the battlecruisers Derfflinger and Von der Tann, accompanied by the light cruiser Kolberg,[7] began soon after 8 a.m. and it was reported that the hotel was hit at least 30 times.

[7] Following the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980, the hotel was used in a covert training exercise by the SAS in preparation for other anticipated terrorist incidents.

The hotel was bought by Butlins, the company better known for its holiday camps, in 1978 and was run as an inexpensive choice of accommodation.

Several cases of sickness had been reported in the mid-1990s under its previous ownership, and in 2002, an outbreak of gastroenteritis hospitalised one man and affected more than 200 guests and staff.

A spokesperson for the North Yorkshire Health Protection Unit blamed the incidents on the age of the building and "bad luck".

[12] In March 2007, 120 people fell ill with norovirus; infection control specialists stressed that the management should not be held responsible, as similar outbreaks are commonplace elsewhere.

[13] In 2005, an investigative BBC report revealed several health issues at the hotel, including the presence of E. coli bacteria.

Extinguishing the blaze took over 40 minutes because of the number of stairs in the building and the amount of smoke, which both hampered firefighters' movements.

One notes that Anne Brontë, the Yorkshire writer, died at lodgings on the site of the current hotel.