Photographs, vintage postcards and other ephemera


Saturday 9 June 2012

A nice cup of tea, hotel style

It's the weekend again and time for another instalment of Sepia Saturday.
A postally unused card of the Winter Garden at the Regent Palace Hotel, London, from the 1920s. I stayed here on holiday a couple of times in the 1950s with my parents and thought it was all terribly grand. The hotel opened its doors on May 16, 1915 and closed on December 31, 2006; it's now been converted into a "£300m retail development".
You can read more about the Regent Palace Hotel here and about the recent conversion here and here.

More refreshing posts over at Sepia Saturday

9 comments:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

How neat that you have been there!

Great postcard too,

Kathy M.

Wendy said...

What a grand room! I would have enjoyed tea at one of those little tables.

viridian said...

Look at the gilt and the palms! Impressive place.

Little Nell said...

I’ve had a drink in the bar there but not tea! My husband used to stay there when he went to meetings in London whilst we were living in Germany with the RAF. So, when he took me to London he showed me where he stayed. It’s also known in our family for a coincidental meeting. On one occasion my husband was sitting in the bar when his brother walked past! His brother lived in Anglesey, North Wales and was in London for a meeting himself. The chances of two brothers, one living in Germany and one in Wales meeting in London by chance are pretty small I should think.

Bob Scotney said...

An ornate place - shame it's gone.

Howard said...

Smashing postcard. Unusual to have people in it, these hotel interior postcards were usually devoid of people.

Alan Burnett said...

There are few things which can compare with such grant Victorian and Edwardian edifices. It is a shame that so many of them are vanishing.

North County Film Club said...

I noticed the bar in the antique photo and thought it would be a shame to lose it. But it looks like they're going to recreate it. I also read that Al Gore's company is going to rent a floor. How nice that the U.S. will be represented.
Barbara

Christine H. said...

I have a few old postcards from the Regent palace too. We were just in London, and it's sad to see how Piccadilly Circus has changed with all of the chain stores and advertisements. How fortunate you were to stay there in the 50s!