The Grand Brighton

At 2.54 in the morning of 12 October 1984 a bomb planted weeks earlier in a bathroom on the sixth floor of The Grand Brighton tore through the centre of the building. The Conservative Party was in conference and the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was awake in the Napoleon Suite working on her speech. She was unhurt; five people died and the front of the hotel collapsed into the street. The Grand reopened on 28 August 1986, Thatcher cut the ribbon, and the hotel has carried the date on its fabric ever since.

History

The Grand opened on 21 July 1864 on the seafront at King's Road, designed by John Whichcord Junior as the first hotel in Brighton built to London standards. It rose eight storeys, taller than anything else on the coast, and was fitted with a hydraulic 'ascending omnibus', one of the earliest passenger lifts in a hotel outside London. The spiral staircase at its centre winds the full height of the building around the lift shaft. Its guests in the nineteenth century were the London society that had followed the railway to Brighton, and the hotel was built to keep them away from the boarding-house town behind it.

The twentieth century brought the political conferences. Both main parties met in Brighton for decades, and the Grand, next door to the Brighton Centre, was where ministers stayed. After the 1984 bombing the hotel was rebuilt behind its restored facade and took two years to reopen. De Vere Hotels ran it in the 1990s and 2000s; it changed hands in the 2010s and a refurbishment of about £17 million remade the bedrooms, the lobby and the restaurant. It now belongs to Leonardo Hotels UK & Ireland.

Architecture and design

Whichcord's facade is Italianate, in cream stucco with tiers of arched windows and balconies that step back towards the roofline, and the building is listed. The central staircase, with its cast-iron balustrade and the glass dome above, is the hotel's set piece. The refurbishment of the 2010s used the sea as its palette, with blues and greys in the rooms and a restaurant named Cyan on the ground floor facing the water.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 201 rooms and suites. Sea-view rooms along the front look over the promenade to the Channel and the skeleton of the West Pier to the west; the higher the floor the longer the view. Rooms at the back face the town. The suites on the upper floors are named, and some carry the history of the house, the Napoleon Suite among them.

Dining

Cyan, the ground-floor restaurant, opened with the refurbishment and serves British dishes with the sea in view through its tall windows. Afternoon tea is served in the Victoria Lounge, under the stair, and is the single thing most Brighton residents have done at The Grand. The Victoria Bar is open to non-residents and busy on conference weeks.

Wellness

The hotel's spa carries the L.Raphael name, the Geneva beauty house, and offers facials, massage and beauty treatments in a small suite of rooms. There is no swimming pool.

Weddings and events

The Empress Suite is the ballroom and the largest room in the hotel, with chandeliers and a stage, and is used for wedding breakfasts, dinners and conference sessions. A series of smaller rooms serves meetings and receptions, and the lobby and the Victoria Lounge take drinks. The hotel is licensed for civil ceremonies, and the beach is across the road for photographs.

Location

The Grand stands at 97-99 King's Road, with the Brighton Centre on one side and the seafront promenade in front. The Lanes and the Royal Pavilion are ten minutes on foot to the east, Brighton station fifteen minutes uphill. Gatwick airport is half an hour by train, London Victoria an hour. It is the luxury hotel in Brighton that the city uses as a landmark: directions along the seafront are given in relation to it.