The Ossington Coffee Palace
Early in 1881, Charlotte, Viscountess Ossington, proposed to present the town of Newark with a new cafe or "Coffee Tavern". It was to be built close to the River Trent, opposite the Castle and cattle market, on land purchased from the Handley family. The purpose of the coffee house was "to promote the cause of temperance therein" and hopefully lure farmers away from the town’s public houses.
A title deed dated 16 August 1881 established the coffee house as a charitable concern, with provision for the benefit of Newark hospital. Viscountess Ossington was to be the first manager until her death, and to be succeeded by a group of self-regulating managers or trustees. Four endowment houses on Castlegate were also acquired and administered by the trustees, who also had the power to sell the coffee house if it did not prosper.
The "Coffee Palace" was to be free of any political or party associations and plans were approved by the Urban Sanitary Authority in May 1881. The architects Messrs Ernest George and Peto of Argyll Street, London were engaged to design the premises. The building work was undertaken by Messrs Smith and Lunn of Newark and the corner stone was laid on 10 November 1881 by Mr Peto.
It was architecturally designed as a sixteenth century tavern, with mullioned windows and leaded lights, high gables, steep red tile roofs and a horse trough. Accommodation was extensive. On the first floor was an assembly room for market dinners and large gatherings, a reading room, library and club room for Masonic and other benefit societies. On the second floor was a billiard room and bedrooms for travellers. There was stabling for forty horses, with a cart shed, tea garden and bowling alley! The ground floor housed the general coffee room, a boy’s room, kitchen and offices. The opening ceremony took place on 16 November 1882 in the presence of Viscountess Ossington.
In its chequered history, the palace was requisitioned by themilitary in the First World War, by the Air Ministry from 1942 to 1946, and then from 1947 by the Ministry of Works. In the 1960s a court decided that the trust was not a charitable institution as the hotel had always been run on commercial lines, although this had been questioned earlier by the Inspector of Taxes. The heirs of Viscountess Ossington were then traced as the true beneficiaries. The coffee palace was sold in 1978, and is now occupied by the Italian restaurant chain, Zizzi.
