Ariel
Hotel
The
Ariel Hotel was the first post-war hotel
that Lyons built and it opened in January
1961. The catalyst for hotel expansion
came in the combination of two events:
first, an approach from Watney's the
brewers for the construction of a hotel on
a site they owned on the Bath Road, close
to Heathrow Airport; and, second, the sale
of the Royal Palace Hotel, with its
disposal proceeds providing the bulk of
the building costs. The initiative for the
development came from Julian Salmon who
was not directly involved with the
day-to-day hotel business, but he did
foresee the tremendous growth in air
travel and the need for airport hotels.
Planning and construction of the Ariel
Hotel proved to be very troublesome. The
contractors, architects and other
consultants, who had no previous
experience of planning or building large
hotels, had already been appointed. They
had prepared an unconventional circular
design whose shape was said to be more in
keeping with a cake than a hotel. The
two-acre site was a short distance from
the Heathrow airport runway and the hotel
required not double glazing but triple
glazing. This had ramifications for the
design and durability of the elevation
cladding of the building. Every Tom, Dick
and Harry within Lyons had something to
say about the design and interior fittings
of the hotel and these discussions took up
much time and effort. Full-size mock-ups
of bedrooms were constructed in the
basement of the Regent Palace Hotel.
Everyone was invited to comment, and
variation orders to the architect and
interior designers were scattered like
confetti. The interior design of the
public areas was entrusted to an American
designer based in Chicago, this at a time
before the fax machine, let alone e-mail.
When it opened in 1961 it was well behind
time and way beyond budget. It had 180
bedrooms, all sound-proofed with air
conditioning and most with private en
suites. The name Ariel was chosen from a
staff competition, won by Mrs F. M. Bailes
of Hogarth Press, who received £25.
The Queen was given a preview of the hotel
before it was opened by the Minister of
Aviation, Peter Thorneycroft. Within Lyons
the Ariel Hotel was not given a great deal
of coverage but from time to time
well-known guests, traveling through
Heathrow, stayed there. The most
interesting group were probably the first
party of Britain's Tokyo Olympic team who
arrived home on 27 October 1964 and stayed
one night at the Ariel before going on to
Buckingham Palace for lunch with the
Queen. The hotel had arranged hairdressers
and valets and all were allocated rooms
with private en suites. Among the group
was Mary Rand the gold medalist. When
Lyons disposed of their hotels in 1977 the
Ariel was sold to the Charles forte
Group.
Peter
Bird
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