I have just had word from one of my Blyth 'informants' and he has sent me this information from the Blyth Weekly News dated Tuesday 8 November, 1910 which adds nicely to the subject matter.
P
ON THE ROWTON PRINCIPLEBlyth Lodging House Keeper’s Enterprise
With commendable enterprise Mr Larsen, of the Jubilee Lodging House, which stands on the Ballast Hill at Blyth, is at the present moment transforming the interior of the building from the usual type of lodging house into something more like a home for those who are obliged to patronise them. As a matter of fact, Mr Larsen has recognised the value of the Rowton House principle adopted at Newcastle some time ago, and is himself busy following suit. Messrs. G. and L. Wood, of Blyth, are engaged with the work of converting the spacious room into cubicles, where there will in the future be privacy to the occupants. When the work is finished, and it is now nearing completion, there will be upwards of a hundred of these cubicles, each fitted up with clean and comfortable beds. Naturally, there is not an abundance of room in these cubicles, but nevertheless there is plenty of ventilation, and what is more important, the residents are now able to sleep in private, instead of the old-fashioned and far from satisfactory method of crowding perhaps a dozen beds in one room, each exposed to the other. By means of these cubicles the lodgers will be able to leave what goods and chattels they possess behind them with safety in the lodge, as only the deputy has access to each, which is fitted with a lock and key. Another decided improvement which Mr Larsen has carried out is the establishment of hot and cold baths for the use of the residents, and in the kitchen the old-fashioned open fireplaces have been substituted for what are called heating plates, which has already proved a decided boon to those who reside there. Altogether, Mr Larsen has really tackled a question such as this, in a business-like manner, and there is no doubt but that he will receive the thanks and the gratitude of the thousands of travellers who will sleep under his roof. The place is more like a home now than it was before, and creature comforts are what is most desired by those who frequent these lodging houses. The enterprise is certainly worthy of success.
