As we approach our 5th anniversary of re-opening, we take a moment to look back to the very beginning of University Arms story, almost 200 years ago.

1830: Hotel commissioned

Fashionable terraces of houses are built on land owned by Jesus College on the east side of Cambridge. Close by, the University Arms hotel is commissioned by Joseph Berry, a local property developer.

1834: Hotel opens

Joseph Berry’s new hotel opens. Catering to the posting coach trade, it contains 15 bedrooms with assorted dining and function rooms, making it the city’s most high quality establishment to date.

1838: A Coronation Feast

Fifteen thousand people gather on Parker’s Piece for a public feast to celebrate Queen Victoria’s coronation. She will rule for another 63 years, through a period of dramatic changes, including the expansion of the British Empire.

1848: Cambridge Rules

Gownsmen play football in front of the hotel on Parker’s Piece and establish the rulebook adopted by the Football Association 15 years later. These still remain the defining rules of ‘The Beautiful Game’ all over the world.

1891: Hotel Extended

Marcus Bradford takes over the running of the hotel with ambitious plans to expand it. With some difficulty, he persuades Jesus College to allow him to extend the hotel to the north. He also adds electric lighting, which is a first for a hotel in Cambridge.

1900: Hotel Expansion

At the University Arms, development works are completed. In 70 years, it has gone from a coaching inn to becoming one of the largest hotels in Cambridge with 60 rooms and WCs on every floor.

1904: Garage Style

With the increasing popularity of the motor car, the developer of the University Arms, Marcus Bradford, takes another risk with the decision to turn the stableyard into a garage, with a steel and glass roof.

1905: Grand Ambitions

Entrepreneur Marcus Bradford buys the hotel from Jesus College, giving him the freedom to create the ballroom in another extension. A Winter Garden is created at the north end of the hotel.

1925: Cheveley Hall

Many of the interior features of the hotel are purchased from recently demolished Cheveley Hall. This includes the magnificent fireplaces in the hotel’s octagonal lounge and ballroom, together with acres of oak panelling.

1960: Modernist Style

New owners of the hotel commission the architects Feilden and Mawson to alter the hotel dramatically. The original hotel building and stableyard are demolished and a new modernist style building is added across the front.

1980: De Vere Hotel Group

Cliff Richards is knighted. ABBA releases ‘The Winner Takes it All.’ Eighties pop sensation Duran Duran signs the dotted line with EMI – the group’s first album deal – and in Cambridge the De Vere Hotel Group buys the University Arms.

2017: Open for Business

Under new owners Melford, the University Arms’ revitalisation is complete after a two-year overhaul – from top to bottom, inside and out – by architect John Simpson and interior designer Martin Brudnizki.