Alas, good eating places, whether pubs, hotels or restaurants, often come to sticky ends. They close down and when they re-open are often a shadow of their former selves. They frequently burn down, either deliberately to claim insurance, or by accident when a deep fat fryer goes up in flames.
Destruction by fire was the fate of one of the more unusual eating places in the 1961 Good Food Guide. The Swordfish Hotel, on Crofton Cliffs in Lee – on- Solent was a much-loved attraction on the Hampshire coast, between Gosport and Southampton. It boasted a superb view of the Solent, had its own beach, and in 1961 was serving weird starters, such as fried silk worms and roasted caterpillars. More significantly, its chef was trained, in the words of Raymond Postgate ‘at that nursery of good cooks, the Westminster Technical College ’.
All that training seems to have paid off. One American visitor, a certain Louis G Ochse, praised the ‘ rare ‘ roast beef and the chicken Maryland (12/6) which he rated ‘ as fine as the finest served in any Southern State in America ‘.The Guide, however, neglects to mention that the name of the hotel had been changed by the owners, David and Lorna Conway, who were both former wartime members of the Fleet Air Arm, from Marine Court to the Swordfish, in memory of the WW2 bombers that had flown out of the nearby Lee-on-Solent airfield, which had been the main base of the FAA. Indeed, according to an article dated 1961, the Swordfish was crammed with memorabilia related to the Royal Navy and the FAA. From all accounts Mr Conway seems to have been a rather impressive man. Educated at the distinctly rugged Gordonstoun School, he went on to serve in the Merchant Navies of both New Zealand and Great Britain before joining the FAA, He had also been an air traffic controller at Lee –on-Solent.
Considering that the hotel stood close to the end of the main runway of the airfield and that one of its bars overlooked the approach to runway 5, it is no wonder that the aeroplane- mad Conways seized the opportunity to run Marine Court . It is not known when the couple left the Swordfish, but the hotel, minus its chicken Maryland and fried silk-worms, remained a popular watering hole until March 2004, when it burnt down. By an amazing coincidence, it was demolished not long afterwards to make way for a small development of beachfront homes, predictably christened Swordfish Close. By then Lee-on-Solent airfield had become an industrial park and the new Solent Airport, built to serve Southampton and Portsmouth, had been incorporated into it. [R.M.Healey]
Very fond childhood memories of this hotel and restaurant back in the 1960’s
Used to visit with my parents when we were seeing my Grandparents off on cruise ships
RMS Andes, Mauritannia, the Queens, (Elizabeth and Mary), Canberra and Oriana.
So sad that it has past into history.
Went back yesterday to try and find it, not knowing it had burned down in 2004. Well those memories won’t tarnish.
David and Lorna were my parents. I lived the first few years of my life at the Swordfish Hotel. In 1965 we moved to Ireland where my parents leased Classiebawn Castle. Then in 1966 we emigrated to New Zealand. Dad passed away in 2000 and Mum passed away in April 2025. Yes, my father was impressive in many ways and very entrepreneurial, but the driving force behind the quality of food and service at the Swordfish was my mother Lorna, who was a graduate of the Scottish Hotel School and who eventually taught hotel management in New Zealand, helping to lay the foundation for NZ’s world class tourism and hospitality industry.