Can anyone tell me about the Grand Hotel?

[kirky 10]

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 10]

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 10]

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 10]

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 10]

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 10]

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 12]

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 11]

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

[Texas 10]

Hola Catmiss, I remember the Museum, it was like next to the last stop before the Lion at the back of the City. It went, coming from downtown, Stone House, Museum, Three Tuns, Lion, City. From Pitsmoor we could get a half in eight pubs or so, before getting in the Lion for the last one,before getting in the queue for the City.

[sweetdexter 10]

Hi Texas,

Your route sounds very familiar.

We used to visit your pubs .We started at ' the Black Swan'

'Dove & Rainbow' ,'Mullbery',Bell',Then we would take your route.Finishing at the 'Athol'.

My buddy was married so we would head back home.and not the City Hall.

Anyway we were in no shape for dancing.

 

Inspirsed with the half's of bitter would be a few gin& tonic's and Pernod's.

This would be 60-3-4-5

[mojoworking 10]

Originally posted by Freda

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.

 

Freda,

Was that Larry Parkes the actor, or Larry Parkes the famous cartoonist? Or do you mean Larry Parnes the pop impresario who discovered Billy Fury, Marty Wilde etc

[Freda 10]

It was Larry Parks, he played Al Jolson In The Jolson Story.

He stayed at The Grand with his wife Betty Garrett. They were appearing at the The Empire Theatre. They had a song and dance act together - which was really old hat and didn't go down very well, the theatre was half empty. He was in a terrible mood during the week he stayed - and no wonder!

He was a gorgeous looking feller tho. :-)