BANK HOUSE HOTEL   The hotel King's Lynn has been waiting for!

Some History of  Bank House

What stories Bank House could tell!

Described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the finest houses in King’s Lynn, Bank House was built in the early 18^th Century for one of King’s Lynn’s many important merchants.   Underneath the house extensive barrel roofed vaults extend down to the river where wine coming in from the continent would have been stored before being shipped on to Cambridge, Ely or ports to the North.

In the 1780s Mr Gurney set up his first bank in Bank House.   In 1809 it narrowly avoided being the first British bank to experience a “run” on it by its investors, with one of the bank’s partners having to ride in haste to Norwich to bring back gold to reassure the customers!      Gurneys recovered from this excitement to become, via mergers and acquisitions, what is Barclays Bank today.   In 1869 the bank moved to Tuesday Market Place.

Over the front door stands a fine statue of Charles I.   The statue is said to have arrived in a wheelbarrow looking for a home when its original home in Tuesday Market Place was
demolished.

Captain Samuel Gurney Cresswell, the arctic explorer who was the first man to sail the North West passage, died in the house aged 39.

Elizabeth Fry (nee Gurney) the prison reformer, whose formidable profile appears on the back of the £5 note, stayed in the house on many occasions when visiting her daughter who lived here.

In later years the house became offices for tax inspectors, lawyers and shipbrokers.   In 1985 it was used as the centre piece of the epic flop “Revolution”.

So much more to tell, but no space.  You will just have to come and visit us!