The World's first fully en-suite hotel
It is not an overstatement to say that this iconic hotel has hosted the greatest icons of the twentieth century.
The Goring was founded by Otto Richard Goring in 1910 and was famously the first hotel in the world to have en-suite bathrooms attached to every bedroom. The price of a room was 7 shillings and 6 old pence – equivalent to 37 pence!
During the 1st World War the Goring hotel became the command centre for the Chief of Allied Forces. A direct telephone link was set-up between General Pershing and President Wilson. For a time, the Allied War Effort was effectively being run from the Goring Kitchen! In 1919 Lady Randolph Churchill came to live at the Goring and was visited frequently by her son, a certain Winston Churchill.
Churchill and the Goring
Early in the roaring ‘20s, air-conditioning was invented. Always the innovator, Otto Goring installed an enormous fan on the hotel roof, piping cool air to every room. In the mid 1920s Queen Mary often dropped into the Goring for Afternoon tea.
20 years after his mother lived at the Goring, Winston Churchill again visited the hotel, in not such good humour with his company this time.
Just before the outbreak of the 2nd World War, Leslie Nicol, switchboard operator at the Goring, witnessed Winston Churchill lifting the French Prime Minister, Édouard Daladier off the floor by his lapels. The then Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, looked on in alarm.
During WW2 occupancy declined to 6% - the hotel accommodated 150 Polish officers and servicemen. In 1944 the Fox film crew stay at the Goring on their way to board landing craft for the D-Day Invasion. The first colour cinematic shots of WW2 were filmed at the Goring.
The patronage of Queen Elizabeth II
In the post war years the King and Queen came to the Goring for sausages and scrambled eggs with the Royal Princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret. During the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, a vast influx of foreign royalty turned the Goring into an annexe of Buckingham Palace.
During the Swinging Sixties Jean Shrimpton caused consternation at the Goring by appearing in one of the first mini skirts.
Throughout the 1970's and 1980's Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother visited the hotel annually as Patron of the Injured Jockeys' Fund.
A century not out!
In 2005 the Goring acquired the gardens from the Duke of Westminster. The new Dining Room, designed by David Linley, was opened to much acclaim including the accolade of Best British Restaurant from ITV, the UK's leading commercial television channel, in front of 5 million viewers. The Goring hotel was voted number one hotel in London by readers of Travel + Leisure Magazine in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In 2010 the Goring is 100 years young exactly! Still innovating and surprising us, still providing impeccable service and exquisite accommodation and irrefutably, an iconic name amongst London's elite 5 star hotels.
