Grand_Hotel_(Leicester)

The Grand Hotel Leicester

The Grand Hotel Leicester

Hotel in Leicester, England

The Grand Hotel Leicester is a Grade II listed[1] historic hotel on Granby Street in the city centre of Leicester, England.

The Grand Hotel

It was designed by Cecil Ogden and Amos Hall[2] and built between 1897–98 by Orson Wright.[3] The wedding-cake style top on the corner of Grandby Street and Belvoir Street was added by Amos Hall, who also designed the Silver Arcade in the Edwardian period.

The Kings Hall, with its ornate gilt capped columns and extravagant use of decorative marble, was envisaged by Orson Wright and designed by Amos Hall. Located on the first floor, it could cater for 350 people; part of the building was at one time a cinema.[4]

A postcard showing the hotel in 1906

The hotel has always been considered one of Leicester's most prestigious,[5] but arguably its heyday was during Victorian times. The hotel is in an area designated as a Heritage Action Zone, allowing the securing of a grant from Historic England in 2022 to return the hotel entrance and frontage shops to their original Victorian appearance.[6]

Today the hotel is rated as 4 star and was operated until recently by Mercure Hotels, a division of the multinational hotel company Accor, as first Mercure Leicester City Hotel and then Mercure Leicester The Grand Hotel.

References

  1. [1]
    Historic England. "The Grand Hotel (1074048)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  2. [2]
    Pegden, Tom (26 September 2017). "What's it like to run the best hotels in Leicestershire?". leicestermercury. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  3. [3]
    Watson, Hayley (2 June 2019). "Silver Arcade could soon house more offices than shops". leicestermercury. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  4. [4]
    "A magnificent historic event venue". Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Plans to restore Leicester's Grand Hotel to former glory approved". Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Major heritage project unveiled for Leicester's Grand Hotel". Retrieved 21 March 2023.

52.6332°N 1.1299°W / 52.6332; -1.1299


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