Word of the purported health-giving properties of the newly discovered spring water soon spread, and visitors from London and elsewhere flocked to 'the Wells' to try the waters. Coffee houses, lodgings, shops, taverns and gaming houses soon sprang up in one continuous line near the Spring joined by a covered colonnaded walkway which later became known as the Pantiles. This pretty and well-known colonnade is still to be seen today and is full of interesting boutiques and antique shops, open-air cafés, bars and restaurants.

Georgian Tunbridge Wells
In Georgian times particularly, Tunbridge Wells became a well-known and popular spa resort, a rival to nearby Brighton. Its visitors alternated between Bath for the summer season and Tunbridge Wells for the winter season. The lively social scene in Tunbridge Wells was famously organised by the dandy, Richard Beau Nash who also divided his time between Tunbridge Wells and Bath and made sure that residents and visitors alike adhered to the 'rules' of social behaviour.

Victorian Tunbridge Wells
In the early 1800s Tunbridge Wells became a very desirable place for rich business and professional people not just for a holiday but also in which to live. A great deal of building was undertaken to the north of the small spa as large villas and family houses were built - many of them by the architect Decimus Burton. Evidence of this grand period of new architecture in Tunbridge Wells still survives today.

Lo-tek recording studios are only 15 minutes from Tunbridge Wells - drive through Rysthall, Langton and Groombridge into The Ashdown forest for the most picturesque route.