LETTER: Fond memories of old hotel

It was in the late 1940s that my parents, Nancie and Paddy McGrane, together with my sister and I came to live at the old Gildredge Hotel. Our parents were the licensees.

At that time it was an elegant Edwardian hotel and restaurant with attractive, flower-filled wrought iron balconies with canopies above.

One memory of ours is of the original sedan chair which stood in the main entrance hall and was used as the telephone kiosk for the hotel. We often wonder how and why it got there - and where is it now?

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Another memory is of the Eastbourne Rugby Club who would use the showers in the hotel and eat in the hotel restaurant, The Buttery, after their home matches. That was quite an eye-opener for my sister and I who were very young at the time!

Up until a few years ago, the hotel having been demolished, the painted hanging sign for its replacement, The Gildredge pub, depicted an image of the once elegant hotel, but now, along with everything else there, that too has gone.

But my sister and I still have our happy memories and we look forward to seeing the latest re-incarnation. The chance that there might be any resemblance to the original building are I think very small.

MAUREEN HONEY

Upper Street, East Dean

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