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A U.K. hotel once frequented by Jane Austen is to be turned into student apartments, a new chapter in its history that has left fans of the English novelist “in despair.”
Devotees of the Pride and Prejudice writer said they were dismayed to learn of the “depressing” move to transform the heritage-listed Dolphin Hotel in Southampton into campus accommodation. Authorities in the town on England’s south coast have agreed to proposals to turn it into 99 student rooms, given the “established need” in the city.
But an Austen fan club, and readers across the world, want the 500-year-old inn preserved, pointing out it is where the author spent her birthday in December 1793. Cheryl Butler, who is part of an Austen re-enactment theatre company, has accused the city council of forsaking its history.
“It’s pretty depressing,” she said. “I despair at the planning officers in Southampton. Everyone is disappointed but not surprised.”
She told the Southern Daily Echo that Austen spent “quite important periods of her life” in the port city, which were “critical times in her development as a writer. I just find it strange that someone would pick on that building and think it would be a good building (for student use).”
The British comedian David Baddiel, an ambassador of the author’s Hampshire home museum, told the Telegraph: “Important elements of our history that are about great artists — and I do very much think that Jane Austen is a great artist — should be preserved.”
The council is reportedly considering including a museum or interpretation centre in the redevelopment, but critics have dismissed this as “lip service” to Austen’s legacy.