Merton Hotel

Merton Hotel The Merton Hotel, today Jersey's largest, was built by the Seymour family, who have been associated with Jersey since 1919, when George Frederick and Ada Seymour came to the island on their honeymoon. The hotel was converted into a hospital for the Germans during the Occupation

Staff and guests of the Merton Hotel in 1936

What is today the Channel Island’s largest hotel group started with a small, five-bedroom guest house in Halkett Place, named ’Merton House’ after George and Ada Seymour’s London home town.

Move to new location

Merton House, despite having expanded into the properties on either side, could not accommodate the business it was attracting, so the Seymours acquired Fontenay, a private house on Belvedere Hill, which they converted into a hotel and renamed the Merton.

In 1929 the first extension was built - 40 bedrooms above a dining room which could be transformed into a ballroom each evening after dinner. By 1935 the hotel's popularity had grown to such an extent that another extension with 90 bedrooms was added, on top of another dining room, allowing the original to be used exclusively as a ballroom.

In 1921 George Frederick’s parents – George Andrew and Mary, having retired to Jersey, bought Kalimna Hall in St Brelade, which then became The Portelet Hotel. Joining forces to become Seymour Hotels in 1928, George Frederick and his father acquired the Pomme d'Or Hotel in 1930.

The family's three hotels were requisitioned by the German forces during the Occupation and the Merton became a hospital for the Germans.

• Seymour family tree
• Long-serving Portuguese waiter

After the war

The period after the war was spent rebuilding the business and putting everything back where it belonged – including the hotels’ silver tableware, which had been buried in George and Ada’s garden.

The hotel opened again in 1946 and extensive additions were made in 1952, 1957 and 1960. In 1965 a heated swimming pool was built in the grounds and the gardens landscaped around it.

Business continued to grow and when further extension was required in 1975, parts of the hotel had to be demolished to create space for another ballroom, bar, lounge and 72 more bedrooms. Reflecting changing demands from guests, all these new rooms had private bathrooms. The rest of the hotel was fully modernised at the same time.

• Life on Honeymoon Island

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  Guests and staff of Merton House in 1927 ...
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  ... and in 1929
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  Fontenay, the private house which stood on the site where the Merton was built
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  A charabanc outing in 1922. Mascot Motors was established as a limited company the following year
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  Staff in 1928
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  A charabanc outing in September 1931
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  The hotel in the 1930s, already a substantial property
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  Guests and staff in 1936
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  The hotel in the 1950s
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  The hotel in the 1950s
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  Demolition prior to building a new wing in the 1960s
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  Aerial view
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  A 1936 menu, popular then but much simpler fare than today
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  Merton Aquadome, opened in 1991
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  The hotel band in the 1930s
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  The bar in the 1950s
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  1960s
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  The new pool in 1980
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  Beach games at St Brelade's Bay in the 1930s
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  Merton Hotel 1938
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  The original Merton House in 1924
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  Moved to Fontenay in 1928
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  An official dinner for Field Marshal Montgomery's visit in 1947
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  The first pool in 1965
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  A sports day on the beach in the 1930s
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  Hotel staff outing in 1930

A Happy Snaps photograph of the hotel's waiters in 1938

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  A hotel postcard
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  Another postcard
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  Another postcard with island views
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  Fancy dress in 1936
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  The hotel dining room in early years
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  Guests in 1929
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  1954
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  Menu for visit of Field Marshal Montgomery in 1947
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  Menu for visit of Field Marshal Montgomery in 1947
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  Guests in the 1930s
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  June 1928
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  Merton Hotel pool in 1965
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  1930s
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  1948
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  1964 tourism guide advert
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  1972 advert
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  The first pool in winter
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  Honeymooners with their hire cars in 1961

1930s

Links

Official website