Location London, United Kingdom Management Guoman Hotels Developer Taylor Woodrow | Opening 19 September 1973 Floor count 14 | |
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Architect Renton Howard Wood Partnership | ||
The Tower Hotel, is a large hotel situated on the north bank of the River Thames, on the east side of Tower Bridge, in London.
It was designed by the Renton Howard Wood Partnership, and constructed by Taylor Woodrow for owners J. Lyons & Co., and opened in September 1973. It was built in a modern style considered unattractive by many; indeed it was twice voted the second ugliest building in London, in a 2005 Time Out poll, and in a 2006 BBC poll. However, it is reputed to offer occupants excellent views from its rooms.
J. Lyons operated the hotel until July 1977 when it was sold for £6.5m to EMI Leisure. In 1980, EMI Leisure properties, including the Tower Hotel, were sold to Trusthouse Forte. The hotel was later acquired by the Thistle Hotels group.
The hotel has 801 rooms, as well as 19 meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 600 people. It also has a gym, two restaurants, a coffee bar, and licensed premises. The hotel is ultimately owned by BIL International, a New Zealand investment fund which has shifted the hotel into a separate luxury brand called Guoman Hotels.
The nearest London Underground station is Tower Hill.
In popular culture
The hotel's exterior is briefly featured at the end of the 1975 John Wayne film, Brannigan, as the titular Chicago Police lieutenant's third successive accommodation in London.
The hotel's interior is featured in the 1986 film Biggles, as the hotel in which character Jim Ferguson (played by Alex Hyde-White) stays while waiting to be transported to the year 1917. The exterior is also used as the location from which Ferguson is transported to 1917 along with Debbie (Fiona Hutchison), and to which he subsequently returns while firing a Bergmann MP 18.