 |
|
 |
|
The names alone
are redolent of England and Englishness: the White Hart, Pope's Grotto,
The Park, and yet each has a tale to tell that is different. The similarities
between them are more striking than their differences, all share a common
impulse in using under earning assets and building into the car park.
We focus on
the latter two hostelries, as the White Hart is still under development,
having missed its initial opening date. Popes Grotto and The Park are
interesting contrasts in style and period, and also present interesting
differences of approach and treatment, one being brewery owned and the
other privately run.
Owned by The Young
& Co. Brewery, Popes Grotto is a redevelopment of a redevelopment.
Singled out by a bomber pilot with a hangover the Popes Grotto was demolished
by a bomb during the last disagreement in Europe. Replaced initially by
a large prefabricated shed during the post war rebuilding programme, the
pub was then rebuilt in the English corporate style of the 1950s.
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
  |
| |
|
|
| |
|
  |
| |
|
|
| |
|
The
Popes Grotto
Named the Popes Grotto as it sits on land that was the garden of
a 19th century English poet, Alexander Pope. Pope's garden was separated
from his house by the main road, so he linked it to the house with
a tunnel lined with seashells and exotic stone, ending in a grotto
roughly on the site of the pub cellar. A noted drinker, ex-staff
of the pub talk of Pope as a ghostly haunting in the cellars, now
in part the new underground car park.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The
42-bedroom Park Hotel in contrast had a previous existence as the Clarence
Hotel and is a fine example of Victorian railway architecture having been
built as a railway hotel when the track was pushed through to the suburbs.
Operated by the Wingrove family since 1979 as a disco pub with some rooms,
the building has had a major total rebuild and repositioning. This has resulted
in fine spaces internally, in contrast to the meaner spaces of the 1950s
Popes Grotto building. |
|
|
The
Park Hotel
The handling of The Park by Graham Leonard Design has enhanced these
spaces, and the architectural handling of the additional bedroom
extension has been intelligent and has enhanced the appearance of
the original building as well as giving the extension its own identity
as The Park - Lodge Hotel.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
As one would expect from a brewery operation the best feature is the
treatment of the bar, although the posters on the walls support the contention
that this is a publican operating as a hotelier.
The other unsung
advantage of using the basic pub and extending into the car park is that
both satisfy Mr. Hilton's three requirements for a successful hotel: Location;
location; location. With over 400 bedrooms now developed by Estates Manager
Terry O'Connor for Young's Brewery this is obviously an asset to be exploited.
Satisfying the
boom
The White Hart also shares Mr Hilton's three requirements and the owners,
Fullers Brewery, in adding 35 bedrooms onto a mock half timbered piece
of Victoriana will probably also reap the rewards of satisfying the booming
demand for rooms in this part of London's suburbs.
Development
Team:
Architect / Designer:
The Park -
Graham Leonard Design
Pope's Grotto - Young's in-house design team
Suppliers:
The Park - Morgan Contract Furniture Plc
Photography:
Robert Hall
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Hot
competition
Both establishments offer brasserie eating in an area of London
where the competition between restaurants is intense. Whilst the
internal standards are high, in the writers estimation neither establishment
has the food operation right yet, competing neither on quality,
quantity nor cost with the other food operations around them. Yet
both are seeing occupancy rates at near 90% with sensible bedrooms
offering a good standard of accommodation at competitive, and interestingly
identical, room rates.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
  |
|
