Overstrand Village and Parish Council

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Overstrand Hotel

Overstrand's growing reputation as a quiet watering place "populated with a wide section of distinctly superior people" led to a high demand for quality accommodation. Overstrand had become a place to be seen, people from upper middle class and aristocratic families sought accommodation over the busy summer period and the only type available were lodging houses and rented apartments. The fishing community took advantage of the tourists and rented out their humble abodes to the more adventurous.

In 1899, plans were drawn for a hotel to be built to provide the upper classes with high quality accommodation. Architects were Boardman and Son based in Norwich. Standing six storeys high (including the attic and basement) it was an imposing yet well proportioned elevation spreading seventeen bays across.

By 1903 it had gained a reputation for being "one of the finest hotels on the east coast". Set in its own grounds, at the end of the gardens a series of ramps took the guest down to an enclosed private promenade.

Sadly the architects had built the hotel on unstable cliffs and within a few years the cliffs started crumbling and the road in front of the hotel (Cromer Road/High Street) was declared unsafe for the brewers drays delivering supplies.

Eventually the coast road from the hotel eastwards was closed to all traffic and a new by-pass (Mundesley Road) was opened in 1936. The hotel remained open until 1946 but by then the road had collapsed taking several houses with it. The tennis courts and terraces had gone. The building caught fire in 1947 to finally put an end to its short existence.