An aerial shot of the fire that destroyed 20% of the historic hotel
May 5th 2010 is a day etched permanently into Harrogate’s Majestic Hotel.
A fire ripped through the upper floors of the iconic building, destroying dozens of rooms and claiming the life of employee Nigel Butterfield.
The fire took 100 firefighters and eight hours to bring under control, 20 per cent of the building was destroyed forcing the hotel to close for the third time in it’s 111 year history.
This month, the Yorkshire hotel will officially re-open and to mark the event they will be hosting a special exhibition of hotel memorabilia over the past century.
Much of the memorabilia has been donated by members of the public, many of whom are Harrogate residents whose relatives worked at the hotel.
General manager Vince Johnson has been staggered at the treasure trove of objects amassed in the past few months, including old cabaret programmes, photographs of staff dating back to 1900, tickets for glamorous parties and even a Nazi map highlighting the Majestic as a bombing target during the Second World War.
He said.
” I got the call early in the morning last year saying there had been a major fire.”
“it was the phone call no hotel manager ever wants to get.”
” The fire left mayhem with 20 per cent of the building damaged and cutting through almost all our main services.”
” We were also devastated to lose a member of staff Nigel had worked here as a kitchen porter for 18 years and was well known.”
” The scars of that fire will carry on for a long time.”
The blaze destroyed 10 staff bedrooms, 29 guestrooms and the main dining room and forced the great hotel to close for four months.
Once described as the “Finest Spa Hotel in the World” the Majestic suffered a catastrophic fall from grace and it is only now that the hotel has fully risen from the ashes.
Mr Johnson added.
” It is a case of starting afresh and embarking on the next stage of our history.”
” We are fully open and want to now welcome people back to what has been a huge Yorkshire hotel for the past 111 years.”
The Majestic Hotel At It's Magnificent Best
