Thomas Paine's Lewes

A private experience for law, consultancy, finance and technology firms entertaining US clients

Thomas Paine believed we have it in our power to shape our societies for the better and that we might ‘begin the world over again’ (Common Sense, 1776).

In a time of increasing economic and social uncertainty, that’s a potent message.

Thomas Paine lived and worked in Lewes, a beautiful Sussex market town, less than an hour from London Bridge.

The ideas he developed here - about liberty, representation and the rights of ordinary citizens - became the intellectual foundation of the American Revolution.

Many people know his name, but few know that the streets he walked, the room where he debated and the house where he lived, are all still preserved.

And fewer still know that the Commander of British Forces in America, General Thomas Gage, lived just four miles away at Firle Place, on a mission to crush everything Paine stood for.

Which means that both sides of the American Revolution began in this same corner of Sussex, a town whose history reaches back a thousand years and which gave the country its first parliamentary democracy.

We have pieced together an experience that brings this story to life, in the very places where it all happened.

Thomas Pain’e home

The Headstrong Club

The experience includes

• The Headstrong Club Salon: 40-minute performance by acclaimed actor Ian Ruskin inside the original oak-panelled room (The Headstrong Club) at the White Hart Hotel where Paine debated his ideas in the 1770s, followed by a 15-minute interactive ‘cross-examination’ of Paine’s revolutionary ideas, specifically tailored to resonate with modern legal, financial, or tech leadership

• Historical Culinary Reinterpretation: 5-course private dinner taking over the White Hart's restaurant, overseen by a Michelin-starred chef reinterpreting the hotel's original 1760 haute-cuisine menu - written by the chef credited with introducing French haute cuisine to England

• Exclusive Heritage Access: private entry to Bull House - Paine's preserved home - and his adjacent chapel, led by a specialist historian

• Bespoke Client Memento: leather-bound edition of 'Common Sense', with a tailored message from the Sponsor

• A private guided walk through the medieval heart of Lewes, including the Barbican

Additional options

For guests arriving early or staying overnight, optional additions include:

• Private visit to nearby Firle Place, ancestral home of General Thomas Gage, Commander of British Forces in America at the outbreak of the Revolution, where the family continues to live

• Backstage tour of Glyndebourne

• Private tour of Charleston Farmhouse, country retreat of the Bloomsbury Set

Logistics & Capacity

• Available for groups of up to 25 people. For larger groups or bespoke arrangements, please get in touch

• Lewes is 55 minutes by direct train from London Bridge, 30 minutes from Gatwick Airport and 20 minutes from Brighton Airport. A six passenger helicopter can land 2 miles from Lewes town centre, with flight times approximately 30 minutes from Heathrow and just 20 minutes from London Battersea

The pictures below show sites within a 3 minute walk of the venue (The White Hart) and will all feature in a 20 minute guided walking tour

About the organiser

Events are organised by Richard Paterson, who has created 40+ high-profile international events (of up to 1,200 delegates) and overseen over 100 others.