Hotel poem

[ap855]

There used to be an hotel in Dolgellau called The ??? Lion hotel, The Red Lion I think but maybe some other word instead of "Red". It displayed a notice saying that Robert Southey once stayed there and commented as follows.

"If ever you go to Dolgelly,
Don't stay at the Lion hotel.
You'll get nothing to put in your belly
And no-one will answer the bell."

A friend now tells me that Southey actually wrote this about a Lion Hotel in Llanelly. Does anyone know whether the original was about Dolgellau or Llanelly? I can't find the thing on the internet

[kempie]

Not proof positive by any means but the information I could glean is in two parts:

1. The Travellers' Dictionary of Quotation : Who Said What, About Where? (1983) edited by Peter Yapp has no attribution for the verse other than

Anon., quoted in The Times, 6th May 1978...

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1649AAAAIAA J&pg=PA422&lpg=PA422&dq=dolgellau+lion+hotel&s ource=web&ots=TvIpPy69Jp&sig=G9yxcCuPcx4EeLRY9 vhconfoIl4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2& ct=result

2. Dollgellau.net attributes the rhyme to W.M. Thackeray [1850]...

http://www.dolgellau.net/chronology.html

The now defunct (1990-ish) Golden Lion Inn was once a coaching inn. The stagecoach journey from London took about twenty-four hours ca. 1830. It became the premier hotel of the area and was an obligatory stopping point for any passing European royals. You can view a 1920's brochure of "The Golden Lion Royal Hotel" here...

http://www.dolgellau.net/index2.html

[kempie]

oops... the last link should be this

http://www.dolgellau.net/thumbnails/golden.lio n.html

[ap855]

Thanks, Kempie. Thackeray rather than Southey surprses me. Maybe the notice in the Lion was wrong or maybe I am - it was about forty years ago when I was there and old men forget.

[Maximillianeum]

I recall the same poem, and seeing it on the wall of the ??? Lion Hotel in Dolgellau in about 1963, so my guess is you are right. I think it's in George Borrow's Book, Wild Wales, but I may be imagining that.