insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 18 - August 2016 | Page 92

GETAWAYS

Convivial elegance at
The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne
Affectionately known as The White Palace on the Promenade, The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne
is the only five-star luxury hotel to be found along the entire length of Britain’s coastline.
Constructed in 1875 at the instruction of local resident, William Earp, the hotel was built during a
time when the upper classes stood firm at the top of society’s hierarchy and took their holidays
beside the sea. Throughout its illustrious past, The Grand has opened it doors to many royalty,
lords of the realm, composers and captains of industry; Polly Humphris visited and discovered a
hotel preserved in 19th century charm, but with a very progressive character.

You can’t rightly be called The Grand and not
be just that; situated towards the western end
of Eastbourne’s promenade with the looming
chalk cliffs of picturesque Beachy Head in view
to the west, we approached the hotel with
a wonderful sense of anticipation as to just
how grand it might be and were immediately
enraptured by its elegance. Epitomising the
grandeur of the Victorian era, the hotel’s stately
edifice - lined by huge gilded columns - is
arresting in its stature and as sparkly bright
white as a five-star hotel should be; no mean
feat when pitted against squabbles of seagulls.
Ushered through the doors by an impeccably
dressed and, refreshingly, very smiley doorman,
you cannot help but we wowed by The Grand
Hall that greets you. The beating heart of the
hotel, it has an impressive marble colonnade,
ornate chandeliers, fresh-cut flowers and a
ceiling so high you get dizzy just looking up to
find where it ends – it is the ideal place in which
to sit and take afternoon tea on a comfortable
high-backed chair before an open fire. It is also

so perfectly atmospheric in a glamorous 1930’s
Riviera sort of way, you almost expect Hercule
Poirot to be sat in the corner, quietly solving
crime.
The next thing to strike you is the sheer size
of the place. It’s vast. As we strode round the
seemingly endless carpeted hallways on a tour
of the hotel, checking out a recently refurbished
and very spacious ‘deluxe bedroom’ and
the prestigious ‘Devonshire Suite’, which is a
favourite for weddings and was being dressed
with painstaking (and very pretty) detail as we
passed, it struck me: I felt like a passenger
on the RMS Titanic. There is a real sense of
occasion about The Grand and a cheerful
busyness in the air.
In keeping with the style of the hotel,
the rooms are suitably traditional: comfy
armchairs, wooden writing desks and thick,
floral bedspreads and curtains, and our suite
at the front of the building, flooded with light
courtesy of the huge floor-to-ceiling windows,

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overlooked nothing but uninterrupted sea
views. Tea and coffee making facilities, modern
TVs and internet come as standard too; the
only one niggle I have is that there is no mini
bar, so if you want a nightcap, you need to ring
down for it. That said, each of the hotel’s 152
rooms is currently undergoing a stage-by-stage
refurb, so fingers crossed they might add one
then.
Exquisite interiors aside, The Grand’s biggest
draw is its staff. Young, very friendly and
funny too, not one person I met was afraid to
crack a joke, or have a chat, which brings the
hotel’s character straight into the 21st century
and gives it a decidedly unstuffy spring in its
step. Jamie in the Mirabelle restaurant was a
particular favourite, feeding us little snippets of
information about the hotel’s history and quietly
sharing amusing anecdotes from his time there
as he introduced each course; he knew exactly
when to step in and out of conversation, which
is a commendable and crafted skill.