Folkestone Then & Now Guestbook

I was very interested in the memories of Princes Hotel. My grandmother was a resident in the 1950s and 60s and we used to spend a week there every school holidays. Major Beaumont was indeed the son-in-law of the lady owner, a Mrs Bladon. Although the hotel had casual guests, there was a core of elderly and rather grand residents. As a child I had to greet them all by name....good morning Miss Aisher, Good morning Mrs Holland Walker, Good morning Sir Harold etc. The set up was ideal for old people. The day started with early morning tea in one's bed room, all meals were provided in the dining room (tea in the lounge) and you could also entertain. My grandmother used to give regular bridge parties for her friends. She could also have her children and grandchildren to stay whenever she wanted. If she was unwell, meals were brought up on a tray. It all sounds very grand, but in fact the hotel was a little shabby and her room did not even have a private bath. She had to go to the loo down the hall and, if she wanted a bath, go down the corridor in her dressing gown. I have no idea how much it cost, but she was not super-rich and she could comfortably afford it. Mercifully she died before it was pulled down in 1977 (?), but I did hear that one of the reasons it was demolished was because the building was so old-fashioned, it was impossible to bring the plumbing up to modern standards.

HTML code is enabled
Smilies are ON
AGCode is ON