Established in 1894 the 19th century, it occupies a white colonial building with swimming pool and garden, located to the south of Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned, next to the Gibraltar Museum.

[4][5] The New York Times reported the following on 6 September 1899: "Admiral Dewey spent most of the day at the Hotel Bristol where he is living ashore, receiving a constant stream of visitors.

[9][10] In the spring of 1928, Rear Admiral Bernard Collard stayed at the Bristol during the court martial of Captain Kenneth Dewar after the notorious incident that the contemporary press dubbed "The Royal Oak Mutiny".

[11][12][13] Following the court martial, Dewar apologized to Collard in the dining room of the Bristol[14] In April 1920 The Prime Minister Lloyd George who had landed from the P&O liner Naldara, accompanied by Miss Lloyd George, Lord Riddel, Sir Maurice Hankey, Mr. Davies and Miss Stephenson had lunch at the Bristol Hotel.

In September 1935, a recruiting drive was held at the hotel with the prospects increasing for war in East Africa arising out of the Abyssinia Crisis.

In 1954, one visitor described their room as "roved to be a cheerless, bare place with an lithograph of Queen Victoria hanging on the wall and two camp beds".