This article is about the London hostel. For the fictional Australian prison, see Prisoner (TV series).
Driscoll HouseA TV lounge, 2006
Driscoll House is a building at 172 New Kent Road, London, England, which has operated as a hostel since 1913. The building is on the south side of New Kent Road, between the Bricklayers Arms flyover and Elephant and Castle station, and is a well-detailed example of the pre-World War I institutional Baroque style.
The building now houses refugees pending processing and is almost exclusively used by the Home Office for this purpose. In May 2024, immigration removals at this location were blocked by vigilantes who position themselves as an 'Anti-Raid' activist group.
Ada Lewis House
When it opened as "Ada Lewis House" in 1913, it was one of the first of a small number of accommodation places for women in London. The opening ceremony was performed by Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, and the building was named after Ada Lewis, widow of philanthropist Samuel Lewis.
Driscoll House
The building was eventually bought in 1965 by Terence Driscoll, founder of the International Language Club in Croydon. He renamed the building after himself, and two plaques were later added to the front of the building in remembrance of the 335,451 men and women of the Commonwealth (left plaque) and the 292,131 Americans (right plaque), who gave their lives in the two World Wars. The plaques were unveiled on 13 August 1995. Mr Driscoll unveiled the left plaque, and the right plaque was unveiled by representative of Admiral William James Crowe, US Ambassador to the UK from 1994 to 1997.
Laundry room, 2006
The hotel had around 200 beds. The typical single room had a bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers, although this varied, with some rooms having no wardrobe and some having three crammed into the small space. There were communal bathrooms and toilets. The interior of the hotel was largely unchanged since 1913, with green and red tiled walls in the television rooms and lounges. The hotel had pianos, and on the bottom floor there was the kitchen, small dining room, large dining room with long tables, a table tennis room, and a laundry room complete with mangle. One major change that did occur over the years was that early in 1978, the policy was changed so that male as well as female guests were accepted. One floor was however reserved for female guests, and it was frowned on for men even to appear in the corridors of that floor.
The hotel's rates were cheap. For example, up until the hotel's closure in 2007, a single room cost just £30 per night / £150 per week, including breakfast and evening meal per weekday, and breakfast, lunch and evening meal per day on Saturday and Sunday, which made it one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, accommodation London. ( In 1984, it was £10 per day and £50 for a week.) The hotel offered short-term and long-term accommodation. Several residents had lived there long-term, including one woman who was believed to have been there fifty years. At one time, the hotel stated that over the years 50,000 guests from 210 different countries had stayed there.
After Mr. Driscoll took over the hotel, Driscoll House included a large number of religious paintings and other religious artefacts. These, it was said, were added by Mr. Driscoll as a loving gesture to his wife, who was, apparently, a devout Roman Catholic. In one of his weekly addresses, Mr. Driscoll reported that many years earlier, when it was still the Ada Lewis House, a resident had reported having a vision of the Virgin Mary in her room. He encouraged residents to remember this whenever they were tempted to entertain members of the opposite sex in their rooms.
Even in his latter years, Terence Driscoll worked daily at the hotel reception, which had a small shop selling chocolates, etc., as well as postcards featuring Mr Driscoll himself. Also, Mr Driscoll would give a weekly speech in the hotel at Sunday lunch, which, apart from the usual notices, could include news from past residents, as well as his opinions on some issues of current affairs in the world. And on Christmas Day, Mr Driscoll would dress up as Father Christmas and appear at the Christmas Day lunch, whereupon presents would be given out and carols sung.
In his 2003 book, Do Not Pass Go, Tim Moore describes his visits to the locations of all the Monopoly squares in London. As he ends his journey at the Old Kent Road, he tries to stay at Driscoll House, but Mr Driscoll turns him away, explaining that the hostel is for foreign students only. Moore's Icelandic wife, Birna, does manage to stay at Driscoll House for one night.
The mangle, 2006
In November 2005, Terence Driscoll, then 93 years old, was fined £16,000 at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court for food hygiene violations. He told the court that he had recently sold Driscoll House for more than £1million.[1] In December 2005, Southwark Council refused a planning application by Ujima Housing Association and Oracle Homes to demolish Driscoll House and redevelop the site into 91 affordable homes.
In March 2006, a local campaign group applied to make Driscoll House a listed building.[2] Driscoll House was due to close at the end of that month, but with the refusal of the planning application and the pending application for listed status, the hotel then planned to remain open for another three years. Later in 2006, Driscoll House was designated a Grade II listed building.
Terence Driscoll continued to be active in the running of Driscoll House until his very last weeks and celebrated his 95th birthday in the building. He died in June 2007, aged 95. His funeral was held on 4 July 2007 in Southwark Cathedral, and was attended by more than sixty people. During the service, a passage from St John's Gospel was read by grandson Simon Shilston. The Dean of Southwark, commenting on the reading during his address, highlighted Christ's words: 'In my house there are many dwelling-places'. "This is especially appropriate in that Terry Driscoll's work throughout most of his life was devoted to his hotel and accommodating as many people as possible." Terence Driscoll died leaving three daughters, a son and a grandson.[3]
Simon Hughes, MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey, paid tribute. He said: “Terence Driscoll was a larger than life individual, who ran a unique sort of hotel for many years in our borough. Many people from all over the world will miss him and certainly there will not be his sort of gentleman active in public life in Southwark again.” [4]
Driscoll House closed the weekend after Mr Driscoll's funeral.
Rest Up London
After a major refurbishment, the building reopened as a hostel in August 2012 under the name Rest Up London.[5] The building itself is still called Driscoll House. The new hostel has maintained some of the elements of the old Driscoll House decor, including the original tiling in the communal areas, and the "BBC1" and "BBC2" door signs on the former TV lounges: in Terence Driscoll's day, each lounge was designated for viewing a single channel, which could not be changed.
Related Research Articles
The London Borough of Southwark in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London Government Act 1963. All districts of the area are within the London postal district. It is governed by Southwark London Borough Council.
A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared bathrooms. Private rooms may also be available. Hostels are popular forms of lodging for backpackers, however very few impose age limits, so hostels are an option for travellers of all ages and styles. The benefits of hostels include lower costs and opportunities to meet people from different places, find travel partners, and share travel experiences. Some hostels, such as in India or Hostelling International, cater to a niche market of travelers. Different hostels can be known for offering different experiences. For example, one hostel might feature in-house social gatherings such as movie nights or communal dinners, another might feature local tours, one might be known for its parties, and another might have a quieter place to relax in serenity, or be located on the beach. Newer hostels focus on a more trendy design, some of which are on par with boutique hotels. Some may cater to older digital nomads, global nomads, and perpetual travelers who prefer slightly more upmarket private rooms or a quieter atmosphere. Hostels may also differentiate themselves by being environmentally friendly ecohostels. In countries where wages are lower, the cost of staying at a hostel may be similar to staying in a budget hotel.
Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The name is derived from a local coaching inn.
New Kent Road is a 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) road in the London Borough of Southwark. The road was created in 1751 when the Turnpike Trust upgraded a local footpath. This was done as part of the general road improvements associated with the creation of Westminster Bridge; in effect it was possible to travel from the West End/ Westminster to the south-east without having to go via the Borough of Southwark but could now cross St George's Fields to the junction of Newington Causeway and Newington Butts which is where New Kent Road starts at Elephant & Castle. The route runs eastward for a few hundred yards to the junction of Great Dover Street and Tower Bridge Road, known as Bricklayers Arms, where it joins the original route to the south-east Old Kent Road.
A dormitory, also known as a hall of residence or a residence hall, is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university students. In some countries, it can also refer to a room containing several beds accommodating people.
A boarding house is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "room and board", that is, some meals as well as accommodation.
Tooley Street is a road in central and south London connecting London Bridge to St Saviour's Dock; it runs past Tower Bridge on the Southwark/Bermondsey side of the River Thames, and forms part of the A200 road.
Skipton House is a high specification office building in Elephant and Castle, Central London.
Blackfriars Road is a road in Southwark, SE1. It runs between St George's Circus at the southern end and Blackfriars Bridge over the River Thames at the northern end, leading to the City of London. Halfway up on the west side is Southwark Underground station, on the corner with The Cut. Opposite is Palestra, a large new office building which houses the Surface transport division of Transport for London, which was formerly the headquarters of the London Development Agency.
The Hotel St. George was once one of Wellington, New Zealand's top hotels. It is a significant building on a prominent corner site, and notable for being the hotel where the Beatles stayed during a tour of New Zealand.
575 Commonwealth Avenue is a dormitory at Boston University. Until 2001 the building was a Howard Johnson hotel owned by the University. It is located in Kenmore Square next to the Rafik B. Hariri Building, which houses the Questrom School of Business.
One Blackfriars is a mixed-use development at No. 1 Blackfriars Road in Bankside, London. It is informally known as The Vase or The Boomerang due to its shape.
Strata SE1 is a 147-metre (482 ft), 43-storey, multi-award-winning, building at Elephant & Castle in the London Borough of Southwark with more than 1,000 residents living in its 408 flats.
The Lakanal House fire occurred in a tower block on 3 July 2009 in Camberwell, London. Six people were killed, and at least 20 injured, when a high-rise fire, caused by a faulty television set, developed and spread through a number of flats in the twelve-storey building.
This is a list of the halls of residence at University College London in London, England.
Kagyu Samye Dzong London Tibetan Buddhist Centre for World Peace and Health is the London branch of Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland. Kagyu Samye Dzong London is under the direct guidance of Chöje Akong Tulku Rinpoche and Venerable Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche, the co-founder and Abbot of Samye Ling respectively.
Highpoint is a 142-metre, 46-storey, 458-apartment residential tower in Elephant and Castle in the London Borough of Southwark in London on the site of the London Park Hotel.
Isaac Thomas Shutt was an architect, a farmer, and the proprietor of the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1849 to 1879. In 1842, at the age of 24 years, he designed the Royal Pump Room, Harrogate, now a Grade II* listed building. In partnership with Alfred Hill Thompson he co-designed the Church of All Saints, Harlow Hill.
Manor Place Baths is a former public baths, swimming pool and boxing venue in Manor Place off Walworth Road in Newington, London. The late-19th century Victorian structure, designed by the company of Edward I'Anson, is a grade II listed building.
Walworth Town Hall is a municipal building in Walworth Road, Southwark, London. It is a Grade II listed building. It was built for the vestry of the parish of Newington, opening as the Newington Vestry Hall in 1865. When Newington became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark in 1900 the building served as Southwark Town Hall. It ceased to be a headquarters of local government in 1965 when the London Borough of Southwark was created.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
