I Was There Ron Jackson

A Memory of Cromer.

In 1949 the Royal Links which had hosted Royals and the glitterati of the day was the first to fall to the contagious bout of fires which mysteriously began to sweep the area. Imagine that wonderful central staircase (with no fire doors of course) what a chimney that must have made. At some time during the night (it’s funny how things seem to start at night) with the place unoccupied and no doubt the owners abroad, it went up like a torch. If you walk along the cliff path now, there is absolutely nothing to see of what had been a flagship hotel. The ballroom, which was situated lower down by the Overstrand Road in which they once made an early Come Dancing programme, on which Marie and I actually appeared on screen around 1961, followed its parent’s firey fate in 1978. I guess the site was worth more than the building and of course houses have replaced it.

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Added 12 July 2018

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The ballroom (links Pavillion) became a popular music venue of the 70's hosting the Who, Thin Lizzy and I believe the sex pistols and countless others! There is a blue plaque on the building that stands in its place that is part of the Cromer country club.

By jamieoleeson on Sun Aug 12th 2018, at 8:43 am

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Can anyone confirm that after the hotel burnt down the owner created a terraced caravan park on the site? We holidayed in Cromer from about 1956 to 1964 in a tiny permanent caravan that my parents had bought. They rented it out all the summer except during the 2 weeks we went up to Cromer from London in August. I remember that to get to the beach we would leave the campsite on the right and walk through some woods where there were a couple of corrugated shelters on the right. The woods were called Happy Valley and we came out on to the golf links and then descended to the beach via a path we called "The Scramble". It all seems to match what I can see from old maps, except there seems to be no map showing the caravan site, so I am unsure. The site nowadays seems to be the Cromer Country Club, but Google Maps makes me think that there are chalets on the terraces now where we had our caravan. Is that correct? Does anyone know?

By Chris Phillips on Thu May 26th 2022, at 5:30 pm

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