The Regent Palace Hotel Today

Regent Palace History

In a recent episode of “The Apprentice”  dealing with rubbish disposal and scrap dealing showed the stripping out of the old site where the Throgmorton Café was which was owned by J. Lyons and Company ( the entrance still bears the name ) This took me back to the days of the Regent Palace Hotel when its first Manager  Mr Delaloye  he opened the hotel was finally moved to he was originally promoted from The Trocadero Restauarant ,  Picadilly Circus.

Leigh 

Search planning applications: Case File Thumbnails

Search planning applications: Case File Thumbnails

1936 Regent Palace Hotel Bill.

Old London Menus- Trocadero

Menu Collection

This collection of menus emanate from the days of J Lyons Restaurants and its subsidiary

company Strand Hotels, they include the Trocadero, Popular Café, Corner Houses, Maison

Lyons, The Cumberland ,Strand and Regent Palace hotels. ( link to J Lyons Web site) Most of

them are for special events or Christmas and New Year arrangements you will see very little to

match this today. Many date from the 1930’s and our rare in their own right. Note the signature

of the artist who provided the design for the front in some of the more attractive menus Do

you know who the artist was? Relative? Friend and what else did they produce in fact if you

have an old menu from this time we will happily display it. Some of the designs and displays

on opening an individual menu were very creative such as the ones for the Cumberland Hotel

in the 1950’s. My favourite is probably the 3D version from 1955. Also from this time were the

amazing Cabarets provided at the News Years Eve Gala’s best example of this is the 1953

Christmas arrangements at the Cumberland . Muffin the Mule (TV 1960’s) Joan Turner, still

going strong Stubby Kaye ( Hollywood Actor) Bernard Miles and David Niven ( had his own TV

show.

The Trocadero

This prestigious restaurant was open from late 1890 and closed in 1965 it was renown

throughout London for the Long Bar ( meet me in the Long Bar after the war was a famous

quote from the trenches of the first world war) It introduced the tea dance and cabarets to

London in the 1920’s. The only menus I have date from 1934 and show the care taken over

their design. All in French and several courses.

Image 1 Front of Trocadero Christmas day evening menu beautiful design lavish menu.

Image 2 Menu

Image 3 Menu designed by Clarki Hutton do you know who this was ?

L.Smith

1935 Childrens Menu from The Trocadero

Childrens Lunch menu ( sorry little battered after 74 years)from 1935 note how the

rabbit pops out. of the hat menu in English and if the little darlings don’t like fish they can have

scrambled eggs Ah! Copyright LS

Old Newspaper Advert Regent Palace

Piccadilly Underground And Regent Palace

Regent Palace History

Recently sold by Bonham’s at auction  was Edward Wadsworth (British, 1889-1949) , First Sketch for a Painting at the Forward End of the Main Smoke Room on RMS Queen Mary.

See the above image of the “Cabin Class Smoking Room “  and “the Verandah Grill” remember there was first class, cabin class and third class. The reason for showing these images is the similarity

between these designs and  architecture and that still evident in the Atlantic Bar and Grill and the adjoining bar (formerly the Smoking room ) in the REGENT PALACE hotel. The same can be said of the Titanic Restaurant

which had a nautical make over and reference to the White Star line when it was recently remodelled before closure. Both these restaurants were redesigned in the 1930’s  by Oliver Barnard who was influenced by the ocean going liners designs having done some work in the field.

Supplied By Leigh

Regent Palace History. Frederick G Valentine

 We were pleased to receive this communication the other day.

 My father, Frederick G Valentine worked at the Regent Palace from the early 1930s until 1941/42. He played football for Lyons from the early 1930s until the war and we still have a number of medals he received in connection with this. He was a fire watcher at the hotel during the war and narrowly escaped injury when the hotel was hit (I still have a small piece of shrapnel that embedded itself in woodwork near to him went the bomb exploded. I read Betty Chadwick's story and was particularly interested in the reference she made to a lady she referred to as a dear soul called "Valentine" (her surname). This made me wonder if another Valentine relative of mine worked at the hotel at the same time as my father. If you no longer have staff records from that time, would it be possible for you to pass this email to Betty Chadwick together with my email address? She might know if the "dear soul" Valentine had a relative working there. Ray Valentine Melbourne Australia

The above request was passed to Leigh Smith and the following information was supplied by Ray Valentine. We would like to thank him for sending this to us and with his kind permission have now published the story.

My father joined Chas Wright Ltd, Edgware as an apprentice die-sinker after leaving school, became qualified there and was still working for them in 1929 when the firm "went under" in the Depression. He played football for Hendon Town FC in the London League during the 1920s and until 1931. He also played for the London League while with Hendon Town. Hendon Town FC had lost their ground in 1929 and were in financial difficulty until they finally closed down at the end of the 1932/33 season.

He got a job at the Regent Palace Hotel as a french polisher, probably sometime in 1931. He played for The Lyons Club in the 1931/32 season (see West End Department League winners medal). As far as I know, he had little or no previous experience of french polishing and used to attend evening classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic after finishing work at the RPH. 

Sometime after the hotel bombing he was able to make use of his earlier technical training and experience by working as an engineering inspector on aircraft frame production at Wembley. Sadly, a few years after the war, he died of cancer, aged 46. 

Apart from the medals (see attached) I have no photographs from his football days - neither from Hendon Town FC or The Lyons Club. Shortly prior to receiving your email I had written to two researchers to find out what the cost would be of searching the Lyons Mail magazine copies of which I believe are held in the London Metropolitan Archives. So your offer to send me the presentation disc was very timely and welcome. I realize that there may well be no photographs of my father on the disc but I am very much looking forward to viewing the contents.

  

Attachments.

I have attached a couple of views of the piece of shrapnel that buried itself in a wall or in some woodwork after just missing my father's head. It isn't very large but it would have had the same effect as a bullet if it had hit him. He dug it out of the wall with a chisel. Some bits of the RPH are still stuck to it. 

Also attached is a pdf file of his medal collection. I can send this as a Word file if required. The actual collection is held by a brother in UK. The attached file was created by myself using the scanned images.

The last attachment is a photo of my father taken in 1946. There are one or two photos of him taken in the 1930s. They are not associated with The Lyons Club but I will send them if you like.

Please let me know if you require any further information.

View Medals Collection PDF file

RAF Poem, Regent Palace History

The Regent Palace hotel played an important role in the lives of the soldiers sailors and airmen of the forces who fought in both wars, but probably more significantly in WW 2 I was reminded recently because if the 70th aniversary celebrations of the Battle of Britain of the poem written on Regent Palace Hotel note paper by Fl/Lt. Jack Skingley DFC the complete version I have shown below. The original handwritten poem is kept by his daughter we can only surmise as to the mood and circumstances surrounding its composition. They were very brave men and we can only never imagine what they went through, although this poem shares some inner thoughts.

Thought to part of a speech as it ends in a toast to Our Heroes



Our Heroes
by Fl/Lt. Jack Skingley DFC
missing July 1944 (written around this time)

Yonder star alive with merry light
Appears from Earth to be inanimate,
Yet think you not that in that distant sphere,
Live people much the same as here.

Do they know pain as we who suffer now,
Are their aims small as ours, which show
No wish to rise to greater heights
As Time strides on and the Recorder writes.

Look there!
The sun has thrust his rays,
To cap rock's majesty in growing blaze
While down below to mortal life it brings
A stealing glow - and things,
Which in the shadow of the eve
Gained magnitude, now die to leave
The thought that yester took but little joy from Life
When man can face the growing strife
Now prevalent in this troubled world
By honouring a Flag unfurl'd.

Those soldiers who paraded in the Past
Fought war and left Death's aftermath,
Their ghosts now stand with Youth to guide their feet,
To make it easier when the drummers beat
And Last Post sends its poignant prayer
Oh God, receive these Heroes in Thy Care

Oh God, I pray that it may be
That when our nation's history
Stands recorded in Truth's clear light
No blot appears to mar the sight
Of noble sacrifice by those who tried,
With Hope and Loyalty allied,
To stop a Monster's greed for power
And put an end to War for ever

Their loyalty unites in tempered band
True friendship proffered with unstinting hand.
If theirs to die the clasp is strong
The greater sacrifice, the better bond.

In vision clear as to their destiny
These men will fight for Right unceasingly,
So charge your cups
And stand in prideful pose
To drink a toast to Victory and to Those
Who counted not the price for Conquest paid
Unfaltered in their purpose firmly made,
To rid the World of horror and of vice,
They gave their lives, what Greater Sacrifice!

I give you 'Our Heroes'