Elliot and The Grand

Image: © Bob Harvey Taken: 18 Jun 2005

View down Elliot street, between Elliot Terrace (on the right) and the Grand Hotel (on the left). The Grand hotel was, at the time, closed after some sort of fire damage. It was being rebuilt as a block of modern flats within the historic shell, rather than being re-opened as a hotel. I thought that a shame, but this whole area is full of hotels which were in desperate straits, I can see the temptation to sell as accommodation. None of these properties have off-street parking, and I wonder what on earth residents (domestic or transient) do with their cars. I used to park mine half way to Stonehouse when staying at the Strathmore, a few yards down this road. The bus part way down the road gives some evidence of the nature of the hotel trade at the time. The Strathmore, and opposite it the Astor, depended heavily upon the coach holiday trade, barely scraping a living. The Strathmore also did a lot of parties and wedding receptions and had a comedy club in the cellar, and the Astor chased some of the same trade, and held sales functions and Psychic and spiritualist evenings.

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