Glasgow's Grand Central Hotel: Glasgow's Most-loved Hotel

This could be described as a " coffee table book ", particularly as it is in wipe clean format. That would be doing it an injustice, anyone just casually thumbing through it would immediately be hooked, there is much to interest throughout. Iconic hotels can be found in most of our cities, and the most iconic of all are the ones built by former railway companies, such as the Central was. Originally destined to be the Caledonian Railway head office, the penny dropped and the structure was turned into the hotel during building. A seamless and beautiful change. The book gives background history starting from before it's conception, which unfortunately for the residents, included the almost complete destruction of the community of Grahamston. ( For a further insight into Grahamston, the passageways beneath the hotel and the history of the Caledonian Station area; I highly recommend the Central Station tour, organised by the excellent Paul Lyons: see the Network Rail website for details ). The book features reminiscenses by former staff, stories about those that stayed there, including many luminaries, and an insight to the refurbishment and up to 2012, the publishing date. All the well researched and well written text is accompanied by photographs, which include ephemera from the past. Minor embarrassment, the bottom picture on page 16 shows a lamp out. There is also a picture of the young ladies at a Debutantes ball across pages 52/53. This class ridden anachronism is the sort of rubbish that we had to endure in those times. The people in command thought that the 99%+ not involved in this minority meat market were interested in it! Nascent TV, Radio, newspapers and the likes of Pathe News were all over it. This picture is proof, if proof were needed, that money does not buy you good looks. I well remember the BTH era, indeed I have worked for them on occasion and stayed at several of their locations, I also remember the dogma and tantrums at the privatisation. Uncompetitive and sinister government practices took place, the management buyouts were discriminated against, and the companies winning were generally given large sums of taxpayers money. For a very telling insight on this read; " Sauce Supreme ", by P. A. Land. BTH hotels were deliberately strangled, and suffered from underinvestment by governments that did not want them to have their head, otherwise it would have illustrated how bad the privately run hotels were in Britain, and would have forced them to up their game, at significant cost. Unfortunately the vast sums of money that we were assured would be spent, once privatised,do not appear to have been invested in the case of the Central Hotel, and the hotel went dramatically downhill as a consequence. Luckily the hoteliers, Principal Hayley, had the intuition, foresight and finance to step forward, otherwise what fate awaited it? They have produced a fantastic addition to the ambiance of Glasgow. A book well worth having, very well produced and an attractive addition to anyone's collection. Highly recommended.

This is a beautiful book that anyone who knows or visits Glasgow will cherish.The authors explain the history of the building of the hotel in the railway mania days of the Victorian age right through to the refurbishment of the last few years. But there's lots of Glasgow history too, and the chapter on the stars who visited is perfect for anyone who loves the Hollywood era.Having treated friends to the afternoon tea there, and enjoyed the wide corridors, sense of space, and lovely champagne bar, I thoroughly enjoyed dipping into the stories about the hotel from the people who worked there, and the detail on the history. I would have loved more stories from people who worked in the Hotel, but overall this book is a beautiful treasure. I got a big sense of the detail of the upstairs/downstairs mentality, and the social code. The detail on the man who grew up in the hotel is amazing. He met many stars who stayed in the hotel when visiting and I'd love to know more about him. Glasgow is very lucky to have such a place - the piano at the bottom of the staircase and that amazing chandelier would be perfect if The Central could afford to put on the occasional pianist (like the Savoy in London). I would recommend this colourful, lavish book to any fan of railways, Hollywood, and social history. It is a magnificent book.

Pleny of photos and information.

I AM WRITTIG THIS WEE NOTE ABOUT THE PIANO MENTIONED IN THE CENTRALAT THE STAIR AND HOW THEY ONCE HAD A GENT IN THE MALMAISON ON A BALCONY PLAYING THE PIAONO ALL NIGHT LONG AS WE FRENCH SERVED THE FOOD TO PEOPLE AND WITH THE CHANDELIERS ALSO THE MIRROR WALLS IT WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF PIOROT AND THAT WAS ONLY IN THE SEVENTIES WHEN I WAS THERE OH YES I COULD TELL A LOT OF STORIES WE ALL COULD AS YOU GOT TRAINED UP IN EVERY PART OF THE HOTELL WHEN IT WAS THE REAL HOTEL AND IT WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST SO MAYBE THAT OLD LADY WILL MAKE HER WAY BACK UP THE STAIRS TO EITHER THE BANQUETING HALL OR THE MALMAISON AS THERE WAS 2 PIANOS THERE HOPE THIS HELPS FROM JOHN AITKEN A WAITER FROM 1976 ONWARDS MAYBE THE NEXT BOOK THEY WILL ASK THE WAITING STAFF ABOUT THEIR STORIES [email protected]

Amazing book and photos are great..Great price, Great Delivery..

Excellent book

This book was much better than I expected, it is part of a 50th Birthday present and I am sure they will love reading the stories. We are staying at the hotel in the near futre and thought it would be part of a good momento to the year. The book was delivered in good time and excellent condition.

Fascinating social history with additional interest for those who know the Hotel directly or lived through any part of the period. Wide range of interest from press photos of celebs to interviews with veteran hotel staff and revealing history of the village whose remains lies beneath the Central Station. I bought two: one for me and one for my sister.