From the 1720s, elegant purpose-built assembly rooms, designed for entertaining the upper and middling classes, began to appear in a variety of spa towns and cities throughout the country.

Assembly rooms were one of the few public places that were socially acceptable for men and women from the higher social classes to congregate, meet and mingle. Throughout the Georgian and Regency period, they were enthusiastically embraced by polite society and by 1770 more than 60 towns and cities had an assembly room.