Philbeach Hotel

[Hermes_Pan]

Work has started turning the old Philbeach hotel in 14 luxury apartments
Some stories to be told in those rooms

[Stavros]

In the good old days you could walk into the hotel and straight down to the bar, even on Mondays when for a while it became the place to go. Then I left London in the late 1980s, but on returning in the 90s there was some dragon lady on the desk who wouldn't let me in if I was not a resident! I think it went downhill when they started charging £5 to get in and then they imposed all sorts of rules; and I think some residents complained about noise late at night.
Demand for property in London is so intense I am not surprised it got sold; I think the Edwards Hotel up the road stood in for the Philbeach for a while, not sure what happened there. Also there was a bizarre stand off with a gunman I think in the early 80s and he killed himself in the back of his van.
I guess its part of the buy-to-let scam which is making it impossible for people earning less than £50,000 pa to get into a decent apartment in the city. The Earl's Court Exhibition Centre has also been sold for property development.