The newly opened £150 million 245-room Renaissance St Pancras Hotel is one of the most talked about hotels around the world.
The hotel opened 138 years to the day since the first guests booked themselves into The Midland Grand Hotel – which was how the building was then known.
The hotel owners, Manhattan Loft Corporation, have spent £150 million on refurbishing this Grade II listed building. Great care has been taken not to spoil many of its well known and celebrated features. The grand staircase: known for the Spice Girls appearing hopping up and down it in their debut single video, has been fully restored, and the old booking office has been transformed into a restaurant and bar.
The owner of Manhattan Loft Corporation, Harry Handelsman, said: “I am delighted that after more than 10 years of meticulous hard work we have now restored the former Midland Grand Hotel to its former glory. Since the unveiling of St Pancras International in 2007 the station has been given a much-deserved new lease of life and the opening of the hotel marks the completion of this massive achievement. Over the coming years the regeneration of the whole of the Kings Cross area into the capital’s international business and cultural quarter, will make the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London and its setting one of London’s proudest achievements of the early 21st century.”
The hotel’s grand opening featured a performance by Jamie Cullum and marked a return to form for this iconic London landmark.
When it first opened its doors back in 1873 it featured all the mod-cons of the time, including hydraulic lifts, the first revolving door in England and indoor flushing toilets.
The hotel was a profitable business until after WW1, at which time the hotel began to show its age.
The hotel was sold to the rail companies in 1922 and in 1935 it closed, becoming accommodation for the rail workers. It was bombed three times in a single month in the Second World War but despite this its structure stayed intact though unloved.
In 2002 MLC won the contract to refurbish the hotel, and nine years on the hotel’s future looks brighter than ever.