The Alex

A Memory of Harrogate.

My father (Snowy) was manager at the Alex from the early 50's until 1962. I remember how huge the bars seemed to me as a small child and how small they seemed compared to what I remembered when I returned for a brief visit in the early 80's.
As a small child exploring all the old hotel rooms was a fascinating experience.
I do remember that when the Caledonian bar opened on the first floor a man was hired to cut several hogshead size sherry barrels in half to be used as tables, after about the seventh or eighth barrel the fumes coming from the barrels had made him somewhat 'confused as a newt' and the barrels after that he cut barely had a straight line cut through them.