De Keyser's Royal Hotel

The Royal Hotel was founded before 1845 by Constant de Keyser, an immigrant to England from Belgium.

A new hotel building with five storeys and two basements was opened at the same site on 5 September 1874, designed by the English architect Edward Augustus Gruning.

The exterior was in an Anglicised form of the Second Empire Style, faced by white Suffolk bricks and Portland stone, with a Mansard roof covered with green slates and hips, ridges and dormers in zinc.

An archway led to an internal courtyard, at the centre of which was a glass dome covering a billiard room below, later used as a lounge.

His hotel was sold to a limited company in 1897, and a nephew Polydor Welchand de Keyser took over the management.