| Balmoral Hotel | |
|---|---|
 | |
 The Balmoral Hotel seen fromNorth Bridge | |
 | |
| Former names | North British Hotel |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Victorian with elements ofScots baronial |
| Address | 1Princes Street Edinburgh EH2 2EQ |
| Construction started | 1896 |
| Opened | 1902 |
| Owner | Rocco Forte Hotels |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Sandstone |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | William Hamilton Beattie |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 167 |
| Number of suites | 20 |
| Number of restaurants | 3 (Brasserie Prince; Number One; Palm Court) |
| Number of bars | 3 (Bar Prince; The Gallery; Scotch) |
| Parking | Valet parking |
| Public transit access |  St Andrew Square Edinburgh Waverley |
| Website | |
| www | |
Listed Building – Category B | |
| Official name | 1 Princes Street and 2-18 (Even Nos) North Bridge, The Balmoral Hotel (Former North British Hotel) |
| Designated | 14 June 1994 |
| Reference no. | LB30315 |
TheBalmoral Hotel is a hotel andlandmark inEdinburgh, Scotland. It is located in the heart of the city at the east end ofPrinces Street, the main shopping street beneath theEdinburgh Castle rock, and the southern edge of theNew Town.
It is accessed from Princes Street, on its north side, and flanked by North Bridge andWaverley Steps. The latter gives pedestrian access toWaverley Station to the south, to which it was formerly linked.
Resulting from a competition in 1895, the hotel was designed byWilliam Hamilton Beattie for theNorth British Railway Company as arailway hotel adjacent to their newly rebuiltWaverley station.[1] It was completed after Beattie's death by his assistantAndrew Robb Scott and opened as the North British Railway Hotel on 15 October 1902.[2][3] The site, 52 North Bridge, was previously the location of pharmacists Duncan, Flockhart and company;William Flockhart supplied Dr. (later Sir)James Young Simpson with the firstchloroform anaesthetic, which he tried on himself at his home 52 Queen Street in 1847, and became standard practice in childbirth. TheInternational Association for the Study of Pain placed a commemorative plaque at the hotel in 1981.[4]
The building's architecture isVictorian, influenced by the traditionalScottish baronial style. For most of the 20th century it was known as the North British Hotel or the N.B. While under railway ownership, the hotel had porters in red jackets who would take passengers and their luggage directly into the hotel via a lift.[5] Ownership passed into the hands of theLondon & North Eastern Railway (LNER) in 1923.
Afternationalisation of the railways in 1948, the hotel became part ofBritish Transport Hotels until it was privatised and purchased byThe Gleneagles Hotel Company in 1983.[2][6]
In 1988, the hotel closed for a major refurbishment with a final cost of £23,000,000, and the building was purchased in 1990 by Balmoral International Hotels. On 12 June 1991, Edinburgh-born actorSean Connery officially reopened the hotel as The Balmoral, Gaelic for "majestic dwelling".[2][6] A plaque in the hotel lobby commemorates the occasion. The Balmoral was acquired byForte Group, becoming part of their "Forte Grand" collection of international high-end hotels.[citation needed] Following a hostile takeover of Forte Group in 1996 byGranada plc, the hotel was put up for sale by its new owners. On 1 March 1997 it was acquired by SirRocco Forte,[2][6][7] becoming part ofRocco Forte Hotels.
The Balmoral was the first hotel in Scotland to be awarded five stars byForbes Travel Guide.[8] The Number One restaurant under executive chef Jeff Bland was awarded aMichelin star in 2003,[2] but lost its star in 2022.[9] The main event spaces and those bedrooms with views ofEdinburgh Castle were refurbished in 2017.[7]
.jpg)
The hotel's clock tower, at 190 feet (58 m) high, is a prominent landmark in Edinburgh's city centre.[2] The clock has been maintained by the Scottish clockmakersJames Ritchie & Son and its subsidiary Smith of Derby since 1902.
The clock is famously set to run three minutes fast, to give passengers more time to catch their trains.[10] The only day that it shows the correct time is 31 December (Hogmanay), for the city's New Year celebrations.[10][11] In 2020, the hotel decided not to set the clock right for that year's Hogmanay, citing a desire to have three minutes less of that year, although the practice resumed in subsequent years.[12]
The clock's original mechanism was replaced by a computer-controlled system in 2014, after a fault in one of the cogs caused the clock to stop several times over a six-week period. The original mechanism, although no longer in use, is still present in the tower; it cannot be moved because of its weight.[11]
In July 1932, American comedy duoLaurel and Hardy visited the North British Station Hotel as part of their visit to Edinburgh. Crowds gathered outside the hotel to catch a glimpse of them; the occasion was captured in one of the earliest videos of the hotel captured on film.[13]
In early 2007, authorJ. K. Rowling finished the last book in theHarry Potter series,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, at the Balmoral Hotel. Rowling left a signed statement written on a marblebust ofHermes in her room: "JK Rowling finished writingHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (552) on 11th Jan 2007."[14] The room has since been renamed the "J.K. Rowling Suite", and the bust has been placed in a glass display case to protect it. The suite is a pilgrimage site for Harry Potter fans.[15]
In October 2010,Oprah Winfrey filmed a one-hour episode ofOprah at The Balmoral. She interviewedJ. K. Rowling from room 230, the Scone & Crombie Royal Suite.[16] Rowling spoke about finishingDeathly Hallows at the hotel.[17]
Media related toBalmoral Hotel at Wikimedia CommonsBuildings and structures inEdinburgh | |
|---|---|
| Government | |
| Libraries | |
| Museums and galleries | |
| Monuments | |
| Current hospitals | |
| Churches | |
| Former churches | |
| Houses | |
| Hospitality | |
| Sport | |
| Entertainment | |
| Transport | |
| Defence | |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
