John Kirton held the Red Lion at Redcar for several years before 1769. That year, he added two dining rooms, one 32 feet by 18 feet by 13 feet, the other somewhat smaller but with a sea view. His hostelry was within a hundred yards of the sea, where he built a "bathing house".
This was a great innovation. It was also reported that smuggling kept prices low for gin, brandy, coffee and tea.
Ten years later, the Inn would place advertisements inthe Yorkshire county press, offering bathers "the old prices". Mr Hutton could say during 1808, that Redcarhad grown from three houses to 160 within forty five years. S.R.Clarke went further in 1828. He said that:
"the small fishing village of Redcar had lately risen to some eminence as a bathing place of fashionable resort".
There were ten miles of hard level sands. During early August 1834, they could claim that the coaches were bringing more families to Redcar than were arriving at Harrogate.
John Rushton
