Thomas Rowlandson, 'Assembly with Card
Players' from The Comforts of
Bath, 1798
People gathered at assembly rooms for dances, gambling, and
drinks. There were two assembly rooms in Bath from the beginning of
the 18th century, but neither of them was big
enough for the number of people that came to Bath and wanted to be
entertained.
The current Assembly Rooms were built around 1769, and were, at
£20,000, the most expensive building built in the city to that
date. In the previous assembly rooms people could only do one
activity at a time, but these rooms were spacious enough to allow
dancing, playing cards and tea-drinking all to happen
simultaneously.