Important changes were occurring in Low Harrogate. Whereas High Harrogate had all the popular iron or chalybeate wells, Low Harrogate had the strong sulphur wells, and after 1818, when the Cheltenham Well was discovered, Low Harrogate possessed a valuable chalybeate well of its own.
At some time during this period, medical opinion appears to have shifted towards the use of sulphur water for treatment of skin conditions and wounds, especially those received in military campaigns. It was therefore Low Harrogate which gained from this trend.
An assembly or promenade room was opened in 1806, on a site in Low Harrogate’s Swan Road, and within yards of the Old Sulphur Well. The new assembly room was the brainchild of a group of business men, headed by two doctors, who knew the financial gain to be had from providing visitors with attractions to prolong their stay.
Despite claims of rivalry between High and Low Harrogate, when it was proposed to furnish the Old Sulphur Well with a pump room, to match that of High Harrogate’s St Johns Well, the citizens of both villages contributed towards the cost.
Plans were obtained from Thomas Chippendale of Otley with a design in the form of an open circular temple whose dome was supported by twelve columns. The pump room was built in 1807/08, and it protected visitors to the sulphur wells until 1842 when it was dismantled to make way for the new Royal Pump Room; being re-erected over William Slingsby’s Tewit Well in High Harrogate, where it remains to this day.