Description
The Goring hotel has been run by the Goring family since opening on 2 March 1910. It was founded by Otto Richard Goring, who purchased the land from the Duke of Westminster and demolished a public house called The Sun and small houses that had covered the site since at least the 1870s. The new hotel was designed by Giles, Gough & Trollope and was the first hotel where each of its bedrooms had an en-suite bathroom. It was extended north on Beeston Place in 1925-6. The private garden at the rear of the hotel was acquired from the Duke of Westminster in 2005 and has well-kept lawns, shrub borders and mature trees and a number of sculptures. In WWI the hotel was used as the command centre by the Chief of Allied Forces and in WWII the hotel accommodated 150 Polish officers. The hotel has long had connections with royalty, with many famous guests staying here.
Practical Information
| Site location | Eaton Lane, Beeston Place |
|---|---|
| Postcode | SW1W 0JW |
| What3Words | ///tested.regard.harsh |
| Type of Site | Private Garden |
| Borough | Westminster |
| Open to Public | Partially |
| Opening Times | open for hotel guests; has opened for London Open Gardens |
| Public Transport | Rail/Tube: Victoria (Victoria, District, Circle). Bus: 2, 8, 11, 16, 24, 36, 38, 44, 52, 73, 82, 148, 170, 185, 211, 436, 507, C1, C10 |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2010 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
The Goring has had many famous guests including members of the royal family, prime ministers and politicians. Lady Randolph Churchill lived at the hotel in 1919 and from 1920-25 the Hon. Violet d'Arcy stayed here. She was Lady in Waiting to Queen Mary, who visited her on a number of occasions. Royal guests included those attending the King's Coronation in 1937, the Norwegian Crown Prince and Princess, and the Crown Prince of Sweden; Princess Eugenie of Greece in 1948; and many members of royalty for the Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953. At the end of WWII the King and Queen came to The Goring with the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and Prince Charles's Christening Cake was made by Goring pastry chefs. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother made annual visits in the 1970s and '80s as patron of the Injured Jockeys Fund. In 2011 The Goring was where Kate Middleton stayed before her marriage to Prince William on 29 April 2011.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ288792 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | The Goring |
| Site Management | The Goring |
| Dates | 1910 |
| Listed Structures | Building of merit: The Goring Hotel |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Westminster |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Grosvenor Gardens |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | Yes - Strategic View Corridor (St Paul's Cathedral / Richmond Park) |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Victoria Square is a modest town square of stuccoed terraces completed in 1839, part of the C19th development of the Grosvenor Estate land in Belgravia. The centre was originally an unpaved open space, later paved, and raised in the 1950s. It was landscaped in 2003-5 and has a formal, symmetrical layout, with paving, raised beds and seating, and at each end a Catalpa tree. The square is surrounded by traditional railings and lamp posts. A bronze statue of the young Queen Victoria by artist Catherine Laugel was installed in 2007, depicted at the age she would have been when the square was first laid out.
Upper and Lower Grosvenor Gardens are two small triangular gardens laid out to complement Thomas Cundy's French Renaissance style houses, the design for which was exhibited at the RA in 1864. The Upper Garden is simpler but retains 3 pairs of mid-C19th gate piers and rich wrought gates with the Grosvenor monogram. Upper Grosvenor Garden was re-landscaped and opened to the public for the first time in 2000. It has a central lawn, perimeter path and a few mature planes, with a bronze sculpture of a lioness hunting an antelope in the centre of a bed within the lawn. The Rifle Brigade Monument (1924/5) by John Tweed is on the north-eastern corner.
Lower and Upper Grosvenor Gardens are two small triangular gardens laid out to complement Thomas Cundy's French Renaissance style houses. In the Lower Garden little remains of the elaborate railings of the 1864 layout and it was remodelled in 1952 as a memorial to Anglo-French understanding and a tribute to the Free French. It has an elaborate fleur-de-lys format of paths, and flowerbeds with bedding displays, the central bed in the form of a fleur-de-lys, topiary and a tiered device for the display of ivies. Two shell and pebbledash lodges studded with molluscs, with pediments on all sides, were brought over especially from France, and between them there was once a parterre. An equestrian statue of Marshall Foch of c.1930 stands at the entrance.
