The Hindu : National : Winds of change at a Kolkata landmark

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Sunday, Oct 02, 2005

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National

Winds of change at a Kolkata landmark

Marcus Dam

The Great Eastern Hotel puts operations on hold as it awaits new owner

— PHOTO: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

The Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata.

KOLKATA: No fresh requests for accommodation were being entertained from Saturday at the country's oldest "European style" hotel, the Great Eastern Hotel. This suspension will continue until it finds itself a new owner. Most of its other services including the banquet hall will remain suspended too.

Eleven years after the West Bengal Government started considering its restructuring, the handing over of the 165-year-old hotel here to one of the eight private players bidding for 90 per cent of its shares is scheduled for October. The bid offers are to be placed by mid-October before a consultant appointed by the State to oversee the transfer of assets - nearly a year after the authorities started the tender process.

Settlement with employees

By the time the hotel changes hands, its 425 regular and contract workers will have been paid their dues under an early retirement scheme, the terms of which have been agreed upon by the parties concerned. Ten per cent of the shares will remain with the State Government.

The new owners will inherit more than the imposing structure spread over seven acres on the coveted heritage site; scripted in its legacy is the legend of the country. It is arguably Asia's first such hotel - one that had modest beginnings in the form of a confectionery and bakery shop, the chief executive of the Great Eastern Hotel, J. Bag, told The Hindu.

Established in 1830 by David Wilson, a British national, the shop's clientele was mainly the "writers" of what came to be called Writers' Buildings, less than 100 metres away — the seat of power during the Raj. Inspired by the popularity of the shop, Wilson ventured into the hotel business about 10 years later. He bought the land adjacent to the confectionery shop. This became the address of what came to be called the Great Eastern Hotel. But not until September 10, 1865 did the hotel get its name: to start with, it was the Auckland Hotel.

In an advertisement in The Englishman and Military Chronicle in November 1840 it was described as a hotel "... for Families and Single Gentleman... pleasant, airy and well-furnished with a table d'hote for Gentlemen."

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