The White Hart Hotel, located conveniently at the foot of Cold Bath Road, is somewhat unusual in not having undergone a transformation of name in 250 years of history, as the name "White Hart" is ancient and comes from the time when large tracts of England were covered with forests, owned by the King and used for the Royal Hunt.

The royal forest, to the south of the river Nidd contained several communities, all of them small villages or hamlets, principally employed with agriculture or forestry. But in 1571 a valuable spring was discovered in the village of Bilton-with-Harrogate, change was inevitable. In 1596, the newly found Harrogate well was described as "the english spa", thus Harrogate was the first place in Britain to be called a "spa"

The Harrogate "White Hart" may originate with visitors to the famous old sulphur well, such as the indefatigable traveller Celia Fiennes, who in 1697 described it as "so very strong and offensive that I could not force my horse near", or indeed with visitors frequenting Cold Bath Road's cold well. DP Short reccommended the cold well in his 1734 book on mineral waters. At this time the white well seems to have been a long row of 2 storied structures, built of coarse sandstone and covered with white wash. Later in the century there arose a story that the celebrated founder of Methodism John Wesley stayed at the White Hart.

The issue of the York Courant for 20th August 1765 contains the earliest known reference to the White Hart, which announces that "Stray'd or conveyed on the 14th August from Thomas Wray's at the White Hart in Low Harrogate, a dappled grey mare....whoever shall give noice of the same........15 shillings reward and reasonable charges".

In 1778 the creation of 200 acres of grass land, or "Stray" to the immediate south of the White Hart's frontage, was of great advantage to the inn, providing it with an open and attractive vista.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the White Hart seems to have developed as a venue for the auctioning of property, and also as an important stop on the coaching routes which linked Harrogate to the rest of the country.

By the end of the reign of William IV, the failure of the township authorities to properly drain and maintain the stray led to a large pond forming outside the White Hart, with numerous Duck and Geese. A late victorian writter recalled that one of the sights of his childhood had been the arrival in Low Harrogate of the great passenger stage coaches, which splashed through the flooded road outside the White Hart, sending Geese and Ducks in all directions.

As the Victorian age progressed, Harrogate enjoyed the fruits of the new science of hydrotherapy and mass transportation of the railways. More and more visitors arrived in town, whose principal attraction (Royal Pump Rooms) was overlooked by the White Hart. The booming times cause the White Hart owners to undertake a major scheme of rebuilding and in 1847 a new structure arose on the old site. According to the distinguished architectural critic Professor Nikolaus Pevsner the rebuilt White Hart was "the best building in Harrogate" with "nothing gaudy or showy about it"

The elegant neo-classic style of the White Hart derives it's effects from a subtle combination of round arched ground floor windows, sill strings and a hipped roof, whose dormers are partly concealed by a unique castellated parapet, which shouldn't work but does. The off-centre ionic door case is another brillant feature, which adds to the monumentality of the whole design.

With it's splendid new building, the White Hart was the best medium sized hotel in Harrogate, and well able to hold it's own throughout the golden age of Harrogate Spa. When world war one broke out in 1914, the White Hart specialised in catering to the requirements of select groups of visitors who favour more personalised service avialable in such medium sized establishments.

During the 20th century inter war years, the White Hart continued to accommodate general as well as spa visitors, and also developed business from the growing conference trade. In 1929 the famous festival of music was held in Harrogate. Sir Arnold Bax, the greatest of the post Elgar British Symphonists, was one of celebrated names to stay at the White Hart during the festival. Visitors of a very different kind gathered on the stray in front of the White Hart in 1936 when the Jarrow Crusade arrived in town, to a reception generally kind and sympathetic.

The outbreak of the 2nd world war in 1939 saw many of Harrogate's hotel requistioned by the government, the White Hart being occupied the air ministry and the ministry of works. Within months of the finish of the war, the White Hart private ownership ended and the building was acquired by the county council of the West Riding of Yorkshire. For a short time, the authority considered using the hotel as an art school, but this changed with the birth of the new national Health Service. Minister of health Aneurin Bevan visited harrogate, which was scheduled to become the british empires principal centre for rheumatism research and treatment. Bevan's inspection of the White HArt led to the reccommendation that it, along with the neighboring Crown Hotel, be purchased by the state to become annexe hospitals for the Royal Baths. The very scale of the plan was responsible for it's eventual abandonment, and in 1949, the White Hart passed into the hands of the Leeds Regional Hospital board.

The recent history of the White Hart involved the National Health Service, the hotel being the National Health Service' only property for conferences, catering for all the areas of the National Health service until it was acquired by the University of York in 1988.

Today the White Hart is still a major conference hotel but also fulfils it's historic function in serving visitors to Harrogate, a task it has performed for centuries.