Things Ain't What They Used to Be

 

An advert from the Guardian Journal newspaper, 1 October 1969

The autumn of 1969 saw the much-anticipated opening of the Albany Hotel on St James's Street - part of a Town & City Properties Limited redevelopment project that also included a supermarket, shops, office accommodation, two multi-storey car parks and a bus station.

The hotel was aimed at the business and tourist sectors and featured 160 bedrooms (of which 140 were single rooms), 5 penthouse suites, conference and banqueting facilities, the Four Seasons restaurant, The Carvery ('the first restaurant of its kind outside London'), The Forum (a 'lounge and cocktail bar') and The Mint Bar.

The Mint (shown below), in the basement, was also accessible from street level and featured 'a distinctive coin decor which [recalled] the days when the city had its own mint'.

The Mint (from the Guardian Journal, 1 October 1969)

Exciting times, indeed. The staff also seemed to be well catered for, with resident positions offering, 'first-class, well-designed bed sitting rooms with built-in furniture and fitted radios', not to mention two T.V. lounges, a laundry room and a staff restaurant providing free meals for all members of staff.

What the Albany is like in its present guise - the Britannia Nottingham Hotel - I am not best placed to say, though the omens are not good.

The current operators do not have the best reputation as a chain, and the hotel has been used in recent times to accommodate asylum seekers. It currently has a rating of 2 out of 5 on Trip Advisor and ranks 40th out of 44 hotels in Nottingham on that site, though there are no recent reviews.

Not quite the glamorous venue of yesteryear.

The Albany (for such it shall forever remain in my head) holds few memories for me, other than as a backdrop for other adventures. I have eaten there on occasion, and I must have staggered in and out of The Mint a time or two, but that's about it.

I don't think there would be too many complaints if the whole place was razed to the ground.

The Albany as it is today