Fawlty Towers (1989)

Wooburn Grange Country Club in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, as it was before the fire in the early 1990's. The building is now gone and has been replaced by houses. The video here was shot in 1989 using a Panasonic VHS camcorder.

[@Amalthea16]

So cool you filmed this! Thank you for sharing! Sad the building is gone, although I know the interior shots weren't filmed here. I'm surprised there hasn't been a Fawlty Towers re-created set in London or Torquay for fans to visit/dine in. The way the Friends apartment is in NYC and the Cheers bar is in Boston.

[@jameswhitby2970]

Great video Real shame what happened to this place

[@zachmacrockproductionsinc.9902]

best comedy series ever

[@donnykohler7208]

If i was rich id have turned this into a real hotel where fawlty towers fans could have stayed and decorated the interior like the set

[@tjfSIM]

Great idea, but you’d have had difficulty doing that - the interior layout of this building did not match the on screen sets in any way.

[@donnykohler7208]

@@tjfSIM ah i see Is there any footage or pics of the interior? Id love to see it

[@tjfSIM]

@@donnykohler7208 I don't think there are any surviving photographs of the interior. You can see shots of (the remains of) the interior in the DVD easter egg, which shows the building after the fire. It's quite painful watching though. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4W3fn-bqNSqm7s

[@johnr6168]

The studio set did give a nod to the actual building interior regarding style, but as someone else said, the layout was quite different.

[@kisbie]

@@tjfSIM Yes, if you actually look at the building for more than three seconds, you realise the interior bears almost no relationship to the outside. 😂😂😂 Same with the Craggy Island parochial house, which might even be a deliberate reference.

[@colwynboy7279]

Polly. What have you done to my hotel?

[@OlafProt]

Extraordinarily unchanged from 10 years previously. Of course these days it would have been ideal to purchase and then turn the inside into the actual sets etc. Amazing that that bit of poor driveway Basil falls to his knees at in The Anniversary was still not fixed.

[@hesch-tag]

Surprised nobody stole that sign.

[@mistofoles]

Actually a country club in Bourne End, Bucks. - the interiors of course were filmed at the BBC studios in London, and it was edited together afterwards to make it look continueous , but we all knew that, right ?

[@Ericwvb2]

It wasn't that continuous, the entrance shots from the exterior and interior didn't match but I don't think there was a way to do that in the studio. Watch guests enter in from the right side (when facing the entrance from the lobby).

[@kisbie]

Thank you for this precious footage of a cultural icon. Sad it’s gone, but its ultimate fate does seem oddly fitting. As if being the actual Fawlty Towers cursed it in some way. Was it already derelict at this point? Looks here like it’s been abandoned.

[@MisfitDirectors]

Goodness what an amazing video. Thanks for sharing. Wow

[@Htiler]

Someone was making KZbin videos back in 89......

[@mistofoles]

I believe there was an actual Jim'll Fix It where a girl asked to help Manuel with his English. Andrew Sachs played his character, and I believe they filmed it in the real interior of the country club. I would love to see that ( just out of interest, not because I want to see JS ).

[@welcomestranger]

Sadly it didn't look like it was being well maintained.

[@mistofoles]

Was the building abandoned when you filmed this ?

[@thebohemian.]

This is a superb archive! Have you let it be known?

[@liloplimplam]

I grew up in the area, and as kids, we all knew about it being the building in Fawlty Towers. My primary school was about a 2 minute walk from there. When we told people who didn’t live locally they all said “I thought it was in Torquay!” A friend of mine lived opposite the building. The place was burnt down in the early 1990’s, an insurance job I heard. I went inside after the fire. It was in a sorry state. A few years after that, they demolished it and built houses. At some point I might release the photographs I took after the fire.

[@theresa837008]

I hope you do. Lilo. I am sad about this..

[@Ericwvb2]

@@liloplimplam Pretty sad. It seems like it could have been renovated into the Fawlty Towers tourist experience :)

[@oreallyoleary]

@@liloplimplam Would you be able to contact me @oreallyoleary as I'd like to talk to you about using your footage. Thanks

[@theresa837008]

you were walking back a little fast, were you spooked?

[@ryanwilliams1800]

it looks abandoned/run down in this video, places like that can seem a little creepy

[@zachmacrockproductionsinc.9902]

why didn't john cleese just bought the hotel house ,and had it for a museum ,made millions on it

[@mistofoles]

When was the club actually operational ?

[@mistofoles]

The FAWLTY TOWERS signs were still there ??

[@Revelian1982]

Is that a question?

[@francofan100]

That’s from the club’s second incarnation as a short lived nightclub called ‘Fawlty Towers’ in the late 80s

[@oreallyoleary]

would you be able to contact me about possibly re-using your footage - thanks

[@lesgeorge9166]

I was told it was a night club at the end ? Before it burnt down

[@mistofoles]

Yeah, I heard that too...and also a restaurant called "Basil's" !

[@oreallyoleary]

Hi there - would you be able to contact me?