Grand Hotel Brighton and sea front promenade and Brighton Centre
The Grand Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Brighton on the south coast of England. It is located on Kings Road, the main carriageway along the seafront; one of several major hotels along this road. Following the fashion to include a hotel's parent company in its name, it is also known as the De Vere Grand, but is more colloquially known by locals as simply The Grand, and it is a hotspot for celebrity spotting in Brighton. The hotel was designed by architect John Whichcord, and built in 1864 on the site occupied previously by a battery house. It was originally built for members of the upper classes visiting Brighton and remains one of the most expensive hotels in the city and the only 5 star hotel in Brighton. Amongst its advance engineering features at the time was the 'Vertical Omnibus', a hidraulic lift operated with 'Monster cisterns' in the roof. This was the first lift built in the uk outside London where only two other had been installed. The building itself is a great example of italian influence in Victorian architechture and still commands Brighton Beach's skyline. The hotel was bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on the early morning of October 12, 1984, in an attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher during the Conservative Party conference. The Bomb exploded at 12th October. It had been hidden three months earlier behind the bath panel of room 629 (currently 621). Thatcher survived the bombing, but five other people died in the attack, including Roberta Wakeham, wife of the government's Chief Whip John Wakeham, and the Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry. A prominent member of the Cabinet, Norman Tebbit, was injured, along with his wife Margaret, who was left paralysed. Thatcher insisted that the conference open on time the next day and made her speech as planned in defiance of the bombers, a gesture which won widespread approval across the political spectrum. The hotel was re opened in 1986.
Size: 5155px × 3422px
Location: King's Road, Brighton, East Sussex, England, UK
Photo credit: © David Jones / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 5, anthony, architecture, army, berry, bomb, brighton, cabinet, celebrity, centre, coast, conference, conservative, de, east, front, grand, holiday, hotel, ira, irish, italian, john, luxury, norman, party, promenade, republican, sea, south, star, sussex, tebbit, thatcher, tourist, travel, verre, wakeham, whichcord
