The casino on the first floor

Come into the hall through the front door of number 13. The stone staircase is on your right, with the iron rail. One flight up, turn left along the landing, and the door is the panelled one at the end with a light above it. There’s a small lift beside the stair for anyone who prefers not to climb, and it stops on the same landing.

A member of staff stands at that door whenever the room is open, and that is where identification is checked on every visit, even if you went down for a drink half an hour ago.

The casino is one large Georgian room with the original cornice and three tall windows onto the terrace. It has a few tables, a bar along the inside wall and seating for about sixty before it stops being comfortable. Everything is in that single room, and there is no back room or upper level.

It opens in the evenings: the tables start at seven and the last one closes at two in the morning, earlier on a quiet Monday. The bar serves whoever is upstairs, whether they’re playing or sitting by the window with a glass of something and a view of the rooftops.

Being a small gaming floor in an old house, the casino is quieter than most people expect, and nobody minds if you come up, look round the room and go back down to the bar.

Jackets are preferred and collars appreciated. Trainers and sportswear get noticed, and on a Friday they’re turned away. Nobody will measure a hem, but the floor is made of 1790s boards and the room suits people who have made a small effort.

The legal age for gambling in the United Kingdom is 18. Photo ID is checked at the door on every visit, and that applies equally to hotel guests, to people who were here last night and to anyone who knows the manager. A passport, a driving licence or a UK PASS card will do.

Anyone under 18, hotel guests included, may not go onto the first floor of the middle house at all, even to look at the room or to collect somebody from it.

Limits are set on the floor by the staff running each table. They aren’t published, here or anywhere else, because they vary by table and by evening. Ask at the door, or ask the person running the table before you sit down; it’s a normal question and you’ll get an answer straight away.

Staff on the casino floor can set a time limit or a spending limit for you on request, keep you to a departure time you have chosen, or suggest a break. None of it goes on a record that follows you around, and there is no form to fill in.

Self-exclusion is arranged in person at reception, downstairs in the hall. The duty manager will deal with it discreetly at the desk, and the door staff on the gaming floor are told the same day. It can’t be arranged by email, telephone or this website, because we want to do it face to face.

Credit isn’t offered anywhere on the floor, and the building has no cash machine.

This is a land-based room in a hotel in Bath. The casino occupies a single floor of the building and has no other premises.

This website offers no games of any kind. It takes no bets, holds no accounts and accepts no deposits or payments. There is no app to download and nothing to register for, and any page claiming to be an online version of the casino is not ours.

To play, you come to the hotel, show your ID at the door and take a seat in the room.