At 2.54am on October 12, 1984, a 105lb gelignite bomb — hidden behind a bath panel three weeks earlier — exploded in room 629 of Brighton’s Grand Hotel. A £16.2 million revampHappily, the historic hotel’s most recent refurbishment — to the tune of £16.2 million — comes with no such grim backstory. All of which is most welcome since, as my friend Naomi and I pondered over postprandial negronis in the hotel’s lobby bar last weekend, for such a beloved seaside resort — and the traditional dirty weekend destination — Brighton has a peculiar dearth of great hotels. There is sailing and there are sound baths; nightclubs, crochet clubs and running clubs; theatre, tarot, tantra and endless triathlons. In spite of its name and size, though, little about the hotel is grand, nor pretentious or pompous.

Source: The Times October 17, 2025 04:02 UTC