Table talk
Sitting pretty at the new look capital
One of the hottest places to be seen is the new-look Capital Restaurant at the Capital Hotel, London. Both food and decor here has been given an overhaul. Chef Philip Britten has created a new menu while owners David and Margaret Levin have replaced the modernist facade with "one more sympathetically attuned to the surrounding Edwardian buildings of Basil Street".
They brought in David Linley Designs to make contemporary wooden screens. And French craftsman Guillaume Saarlburg created hand-etched frosted glass for them.
But what's this? The Levins commissioned David Linley Designs to design 12 armchairs for the restaurant, in response to a request from one of their most valued clients. Twelve chairs? One client? Evidently some customer.
A master of hotel management
Congratulations to Anthony Saint Claire, BAHons, MSc, MIMgt, MHCIMA, AAFC. After a career managing hotels in Britain and the USA, Mr Saint Claire has been awarded a Master's degree in international hotel management at Oxford Brookes University - and he's the first student of the university to receive this MSc with distinction.
Geoff briscoe moves into the fast lane
The London Marathon is only a month away, on Sunday 2 April. Geoff Briscoe, 55-year-old chef of the Thatch Restaurant at Webbs Garden Centre, Wychbold, near Droitwich, will be running with the best - but he's still got some training to do.
Geoff's longest run so far has been 18 miles, but he's confident he'll be ready for the full 26 miles on the day. A diet of "good, wholesome food", four years of jogging experience and some pretty serious mountaineering (Snowdon, Ben Nevis, Kilimanjaro…) provide a good background.
Mr Briscoe's sponsored effort will benefit the St Richard's Hospice, Worcester. Very good Geoff: now off you go, ten miles before lunch.
Scandinavians snap up northern lights
We like the lateral thinking applied to marketing by Eddie Hastie, owner and operator of the Windsor Hotel, Whitley Bay, and the Grand Hotel, Tynemouth. Mr Hastie helped host a party of Norwegians, to explore ways of increasing the flow of Scandinavian visitors.
The tourist development department of North Tyneside Council and Ole Johan Jacobsen, of the Color Line ferry company, were among those involved. As Mr Hastie says, Norwegian pensioners, who like travelling, could bring a welcome boost to the North-east.
Poolside challenge passes Anneka by
Guests visiting Chorley's Park Hall Hotel, Leisure and Conference Centre were intrigued to see the "Challenge Anneka" lorry parked conspicuously in the hotel square.
"Could she be responsible for building the new pool extension to the leisure club?" they asked staff. "Does she have a 24-hour deadline?"
Alas, the lorry was part of an exhibition by Iveco Ford, which was holding a conference at the hotel. The second pool will be open by mid-May.
Marketing message proves out of date
Andrew Grahame, general manager of the Castle Hotel, Taunton, was amused by a letter he received from a company trying to sell him a mailing list database. "We need hardly tell you the importance of an up-to-date mailing list. It is one of the most important marketing tools for any hotel," the company wrote, persuasively.
So why, Mr Grahame wonders, was the letter addressed to a general manager who left the Castle in November 1991?
