THERE was a time when Southampton was quite the place to be seen with the aristocracy parading along the waterfront and through the centre of the town, as it was then.

In the early part of the reign of George III, Southampton was considered most fashionable as a spa resort and the well-to-do came to take the sea air.

With the arrival of these wealthy visitors, all those looking to be amused during their stay had dances and balls staged at hotels such as the Dolphin Hotel that still stands in the High Street.

Strict rules of etiquette were observed as, according to the record books of the time, “it being absolutely necessary in all polite assemblies to have some regulations established, without which no order or decorum can be preserved”.

A venue called the Long Rooms was popular with visitors who had to obey a definite code of conduct during dances and these included:

• Gentlemen were not to appear in the rooms on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday evening in boots;

• They were always to leave their swords at the door;

• The balls were to begin as soon as possible after 7pm and finish precisely at 11pm, even if in the middle of a dance;

• Gentlemen and ladies dancing a country dance were not to quit their places until the dance was finished, unless they intended to dance no more that night;

• Dancing in coloured gloves was not allowed; 

• No tea table was to be carried into the card room.

People paid five shillings (25p) for admission to the dances for the whole season.

A single admission on the night cost two shillings and sixpence (12p).

Tea was paid for each night on entry at sixpence (2p) a head.

Every card table, with two packs of cards, cost seven shillings and sixpence (37p).

Southampton offered “sea bathing for the robust and baths and mineral waters for the invalids.”

Daily Echo: High Street, Southampton, looking north from just south of the Dolphin Hotel

The different baths were all designed to be “commodious for people of fashion” and if dances were not to your taste, there was always the theatre in French Street for evening entertainment.

Performances were staged three times a week during the spa season.

On August 27, 1791 the auditorium was full with the Duchess of Bolton and also Prince William, who had travelled from Lyndhurst where he was staying, amongst the audience.

Then there was archery at Archer’s Lodge, near the entrance to the Avenue.

Together with cricket, this sport was extremely popular and once a fortnight the Royal Southampton Archers offered guests a buffet of a “cold collation”.

Many people would travel from London on stagecoaches where the price of an inside seat was £1 11s 6d (£1.57), a not inconsiderable amount in those days.

Those who chose the draughty and often wet option of an outside seat paid 18 shillings (90p).

Daily Echo: High Street, Southampton, looking north frmo outside Holy Rood