ABSTRACT
Commercial hospitality has its roots in supplying to travellers, through the market, the basic human needs of food, drink, shelter and rest. This core of services has been embellished in various ways in different settings, through the provision of (for example) medical, sexual and entertainment options for customers; and all these aspects of hospitality go back a long way and have ebbed and flowed over time as well as varying between places. This chapter examines the rise of commercial hospitality in a British setting, while taking due note of the export and import of ideas and practices in response to international flows of travel and investment. It pursues the key themes through from medieval times, while taking note of enduring continuities alongside the changes and resisting the temptation to view history as progress towards an ideal state which usually approximates disturbingly to current circumstances.
