What the Dickens?

Dickens, on stage, reading from his works

The trigger for this blog is the fact that I shall be visiting, eating and drinking at, the Angel Hotel in Angel Hill, twice this week when normally I never go there. Last evening I met an old, old friend, visiting Bury St Edmunds with her two daughters, for a mini-break. She and I have been good friends for over thirty years so it was a real pleasure to see her after several years. We decided she had last visited me in Bruges just before Lockdown! They, and I,  were impressed by the excellent quality of the staff at the Angel, and by the food! And this lovely evening, reinforced by a subsequent, delightful champagne afternoon tea with my local grand-daughter also at the Angel,  prompted me to check on the history of the place.

I knew of the strong Dickens’ connection already; there is a blue plaque, installed on the 200^th anniversary of his birth in 1812, on the front facade proclaiming the fact but I hadn’t known how strong that connection had been. Dickens first encountered the hotel in 1835 as a journalist for the Morning Chronicle, staying in Room 11. In both 1859 and 1861 he returned

The commemorative Blue Plaque with a view of part of the Angel facade

to read The Pickwick Papers and A Personal History of David Copperfield to delighted audiences in the Athenaeum nearby. It was then that Dickens began to stay in Room 215, now named The Charles Dickens Suite and still available to guests. It is decorated as it was in his day, with green-patterned wallpaper and red floral curtains.

The Charles Dickens' Suite today still presented as it was

 Delightfully, the Angel itself and Bury too, feature in The Pickwick Papers. "And this,” said Mr. Pickwick, looking up, “is the Angel. We alight here, Sam.” What a beautiful little piece of literary history to commemorate a hotel still functioning today after trading for over 250 years. And small wonder that both hotel and town savour the strong Dickens' association,.

Dev Patel as David Copperfield during filming in Bury

  Thhotel, one of the best-loved buildings in Bury, was built in 1780 and was a coaching inn for people going to and from London, at least until the railways were built in the mid 1800s. The archway from Angel Hill through which cars now go to the Angel car park on Angel Lane, would have been the one used by coaches and horses in earlier years. The Hotel was originally the town house of Lord Sidney Godolphin who was First Minister to three monarchs and reputedly one of the finest Ministers ever.

Filming of David Copperfield outside the Angel Hotel 2018

This historic hotel has been featured in a number of period films. Scenes for Armando Ianucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield, based on Dickens’ novel, and starring Dev Patel, were shot in front of the Angel in July 2018. Fittingly, the film was released 185 years after Dickens stayed there

Its ground floor refurbishment in 2019, drew inspiration from the past, according to the owner, Robert Gough and features some wonderful nods to 

Dickens including quotes on mirrors, Dickens’ books on display in the lounge and artwork featuring the great novelist. It also tips its hat to Charles D. with signature Dickens-inspired cocktails: Great Expectations using Suffolk dry gin; martini dry; Ardberg with a lemon twist; A Tale of Two Tipples with Chase vodka, lemon juice, Prosecco and sugar; The Artful Dodger featuring Kraken Spiced Rum, lime juice, ginger beer and angostura bitters. The Copperfield Cocktail, including vodka, grapefruit and thyme, was added to celebrate the release of the film in 2020.

Dickens’ visits to the Angel came around two decades after he wrote his seminal Christmas Carol which single-handedly revolutionised Christmas in England. Indeed many of the traditions associated with our Christmas were invented by Dickens; so much so that reputedly, a barrow girl selling fruit and vegetables in Covent Garden reacted to news of his death with the anguished remark, “ Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?”

Victorian illustration of A Christmas Carol

Dickens at his desk, 1858