THE Rainbow is one of Kendal's oldest surviving inns and remained under the same ownership for around 200 years. Surprisingly, it has never been controlled by the town's big two brewers, Whitwell & Mark and Jonas Alexanders & Sons Ltd.

One of the earliest mentions of The Rainbow and its Roman Catholic owner Oliver Platt, can be found in Cornelius Nicholson's Annals of Kendal: "The property in Kendal known as the Rainbow Inn belonged to him and an oak table and oak panel bearing the inscription OP AP 1638 were discovered when the house was rebuilt".

It seems to be generally accepted that the inn was later owned by Robert Stephenson and, together with an adjacent house, was given to him c.1716 to be placed in trust and the profits distributed annually, some to the poor of the town and an amount to the Catholic priest of Kendal.

This is confirmed by J.F. Curwen, who noted that it was this worthy man who instituted the 'Stephenson Charity' which owned the Horse and Rainbow Inn at Highgate. Stephenson, who died in 1723, was said to have built Dodding Green, used as a house for Catholic priests just to the north of Kendal. It appears he left this house and chapel to the Roman Catholic Church, charging a payment of 40/- per year to the poor of Skelmerley. While Stephenson's benevolence was praiseworthy, the practicalities of the trust remained questionable. A report published in 1835-39 criticised the fact that it was being managed by a sole trustee who lived in Northumberland. The report also pointed out the irony that although the rent from The Rainbow helped to provide for the poor, a proportion had to be held back as the inn was in such a state of disrepair and would have to be rebuilt.

The Westmorland Gazette series of 1881-2 stated that the inn had neither name nor signboard. The house was known simply as Mrs Lawn's. The pictorial signboard was not added until James Harker took over. He is listed as tenant between 1829 and 1856 and, while under his tenancy, The Rainbow was used by Lodge Number 151 of the Freemasons as a meeting place. Harker himself was a leading Freemason. Prior to this, the inn was the meeting place of the New Union Society in 1795.

An extract from Walton's Almanac of 1874 informs us that The Rainbow played host to the annual supper of the Watch Committee on December 16 of that year.

A seemingly innocuous but unusual item also offered by the Almanac listed John Robinson as warden of the Unitarian Chapel in 1875-76. Given that he was licensee of The Rainbow at the time, which was owned by a Roman Catholic charity, he

could be described as having a conflict of interest. He was still connected with the Unitarians in May 1881 when he entered into correspondence with the Charity Commissioners who had inquired about the setting up and evolvement of Ralphford Hall Trust, which owned the Mason's Arms.

According to the c.1892 Kendal Borough Police Returns, The Rainbow was patronised by a broad spectrum of society. It offered stabling accommodation for an impressive 60 horses.

John Graham, who as well as brewing his own beer, traded as a wine and spirit merchant. He took over at The Rainbow on December 1, 1906, from William Robinson who had held the licence for ten years before retiring due to ill-health and financial difficulties.

By 1945, national brewery Messrs Truman Hanbury and Buxton & Co, of London, had taken over with Charles Harriman as licensee. But in November 1974 the Gazette reported "Rainbow's end may be in sight". The owners, J. Smith's Tadcaster Brewery Ltd, had applied for planning permission to turn the hotel into a ground-floor shop with office accommodation above. The brewery's spokesman said that the application was purely exploratory and it was company policy to look at prime sites and see if they could be used to greater advantage. For whatever reason, the scheme was not followed through and a major part of Kendal's history survives and thrives to this day.