Aberfeldy Hotel

Aberfeldy Hotel

The Aberfeldy Hotel, no longer operating, was founded in 1923 and grew steadily to become the first Second Register hotel in the island to install a swimming pool. It was also one of the last hotels to have live music in its dining room, employing a five-piece band into the 1980s.

The original hotel building: this is the earliest photograph of the Aberfeldy which has come to light. It was probably taken when the hotel opened in 1923, or shortly afterwards

Four cottages

The hotel, on Old St John's Road, was founded by Stanley Prain on the site of four cottages given to him by his father when he and his wife returned to Jersey after the First World War.

Four years after opening they expanded the business by buying the neighbouring Undercliffe, incorporating a tennis court in the gardens. Clearly their business was thriving because they built further extensions in 1929 and 1933, by which time the hotel had a ballroom and a gymnasium.

The Aberfeldy, managed by a Miss Munson from the 1920s through to 1959, when she married Mr Prain after the death of his first wife, had a long tradition of participation in the Jersey Battle of Flowers, starting in the 1920s, and continuing when the event resumed after the Second World War. Like many Jersey hotels, the Aberfeldy was commandeered by the Germans during the Occupation for accommodation for their troops.

Business started to boom again after the war and further extensions in 1952 provided a new lounge and dining room, as well as extra bedrooms. In 1968 the hotel was sold to the Modern Hotels Group.