[decking]

Can anyone give me any information about the Grand Hotel in Sheffield.......my husbands father was the Head Waiter there until his death in 1952, we are just doing the Sheffield part of the family tree and would love to know anything about the Grand.

[roughy101]

my ex husband was a fireman,when the grand hotel was being demolished the fire brigade were called out, he picked up a plastic key ring which measured 2"x4" which said grand hotel sheffield ,with a square for a postage stamp in case anyone forgot to leave the key they could pop it in the postbox to be returned,i think the room no was something like 405.can you imagine posting a key for a top hotel with the room no on, in the post, anyhow for yrs i had the poshest shed in town because the address was room 405,grand hotel sheffield.

[decking]

Thankyou very much for that info......................I have found a old picture on one of the web sites. Can you tell me when in was demolished :-(

[roughy101]

well he joined the fire brigade around 1970 and was based at division st, he was only at division for about 2 yrs he then went to rivelin,so i would hazard a guess it was somewhere between1970/1 to 1973/4

[decking]

Can you tell me what is on the site now? If anything?

[Gazza]

found this info,

hope its of use

http://sucod.shef.ac.uk/sucod/galler...arkerspool.htm

[owdlad]

There used to be a wonderful bar underneath the Grand, by the name of the Buccaneer Bar, it holds very fond memories for a lot Sheffields better educated people.

http://www.aburke.freeuk.com/buccaneer.htm

[RiffRaff]

The Grand Hotel was just that....THE hotel in Sheffield....
My family came across from Ireland in the "bad" winter - ('62?) to join my dad who was already "living" at the Grand, courtesy of his employer.
The hotel was really "the place to stay", but unfortunately (because of the reputation) most of the staff tended to look down on customers...It was a case of "The Ritz" of Sheffield....
The lower ground floor was a gents' barbers, with half a dozen (+?) seats.....In the days of extreme politeness, with "anything for the weekend, sir?" thrown in......!
When demolished (mid sixties?) the site became the Buccaneer bar, before changing to the Pig and Whistle if memory serves me...

[roughy101]

then the fountain bar,i think it has some obscure name now.

[Gazza]

Originally posted by roughy101
then the fountain bar,i think it has some obscure name now.

yer..... the fountain (bar bit dropped) - hardly obscure

[roughy101]

Noooo, between time of fountain bar and fountain, i know its the fountain now,but somewhere between maybe around the millenium it had some obscure name. or so my daughter says,and shes younger than me(i hope)

[drainpipe]

Here's some info. about the band at the grand in the 60'S:

Piano and leader: Winston Lee
Bass: maybe Len Stewart
Drums: Tony Oxley
Tenor sax: Bunny Harrison
Trumpet: Ray Hollingsworth

[kirky]

Originally posted by owdlad
There used to be a wonderful bar underneath the Grand, by the name of the Buccaneer Bar, it holds very fond memories for a lot Sheffields better educated people.

http://www.aburke.freeuk.com/buccaneer.htm

so how did you find out about it?

[owdlad]

Originally posted by kirky
so how did you find out about it?

I will treat that remark with the contempt that it deserves, and the next time we have a reunion at the Uni we will no doubt have a good old chuckle about you.

[sweetdexter]

I worked on The Grand ,painting the outside around 64.
There were a few rooms with permanent residents.
The bar,(was it 'The Round Bar)? up the stairs off
Leopold St,was one of the early hangouts of the homosexual crowd

[owdlad]

Originally posted by sweetdexter
I worked on The Grand ,painting the outside around 64.
There were a few rooms with permanent residents.
The bar,(was it 'The Round Bar)? up the stairs off
Leopold St,was one of the early hangouts of the homosexual crowd

Sodding hell! I used to go in there and always found it to be just another resting place from the madness down stairs in the Buc

[Texas]

Hey Drainpipe, Interesting that someone remembers good musicians. Tony Oxley is still around, saw him in New York a couple or three years ago, in a club in Chinatown.

[Freda]

Originally posted by decking
Can anyone give me any information about the Grand Hotel in Sheffield.......my husbands father was the Head Waiter there until his death in 1952, we are just doing the Sheffield part of the family tree and would love to know anything about the Grand.

I have very fond memories of The Grand, which I have written about at some length (I used to keep a diary lol!) I worked there 1956/7. I originally applied for the vacancy of 'trainee telephonist', but found that my main duties were operating the lift and general dogsbody. I did get to learn how to operate the switchboard tho' and would take over at weekends, holidays and sickness.
Mind you, working on the lift brought me in close contact with the folk who stayed there, including many big names of the day - Johnnie Ray, Frankie Laine, Guy Mitchell, Larry Parkes & Betty Garrett - and so many more.

Email me for anything else I might be able to help you with.

I would also love to hear from anyone else who worked at The Grand during the fifities. The only 'memorabilia' that I have is a letter heading and a 'This is your morning paper' sticker. Although I have found some pics of The Grand from the Leopold St. angle, on the web - they are not very clear :-(

[catmiss]

Had some wonderful times at the Buc but you had to be careful of the fishing nets hung from the ceiling if you were tall like me and the lobster pot style stools were non too stable when you'd had a few. Is it just my age or did City Centre pubs have individual characters then? These days they all seem very much the same. Does anyone remember the Museum pub across the road from the Buc?

[Strix]

Originally posted by RiffRaff
The hotel was really "the place to stay", but unfortunately (because of the reputation) most of the staff tended to look down on customers...

I wondered where Coles managed to find so many of their sales assistants