Taking pride in an 85th birthday party

A few weeks ago, a lady from Provence celebrated her 120th birthday. By comparison, the Goring was only 85 years old on 2 March, but for a family owned and operated hotel in central London to attain such an age is an achievement and we gave a huge party to celebrate.

Hotel proprietorship is a volatile and risky business. Over-gearing, temptation to sell at a good price or family quarrels have always proved to be good enough reasons for individually owned hotels to change hands frequently.

Fellow exceptions in London that spring to mind are Stephen Korany's Basil Street Hotel (85 years in June), Clive Carr, the great nephew of Guy Bracewell-Smith who built the Park Lane in 1927, David Levin's Capital Hotel and Lady Weinstock's Blakes Hotel (about 25 years each).

It follows, therefore, that most modern hotel owners are self-made people. Not me. I was born at the Goring in 1938 with a silver spoon planted firmly in my mouth. I used to be ashamed of this fact but I now accept cheerfully the enormous advantages I have been given and have used them to ensure that there will still be a Goring at the Goring well into the next century.

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to train in some of the best European hotels, and above all I am grateful to have been in one place long enough to witness the triumphs and disasters of the London hotel scene, which seem to repeat themselves about every 15 years. The same things are being said and done in London today as my father was saying and doing in the 1920s or my grandfather before him.

The last really big recession before this one was in 1927, but then London hoteliers were clever enough to organise themselves into a cartel at The Mayfair Conference. They agreed not to discount their prices by more than a certain percentage, thus avoiding a destructive cut-price war similar to the one we have just experienced between 1989 and 1994.

Hoteliers come, hoteliers go, hoteliers forget. One thing is certain, we will see the same mistakes being made for the same reasons in 85 years' time as we see today and as we saw 85 years ago.

We were honoured to have the Queen for lunch at the Goring on 9 February. She was the guest of a private party held in our large main restaurant.

My general manager and co-director William Cowpe was amused when the hostess said to him afterwards: "Thank you so much for a lovely luncheon, and what a cosy little room!"

This "cosy little room" housed the buffet for our 300 85th birthday party guests on Friday 3 March. I persuaded William Cowpe that there will be plenty of space. It would not have done to make a mistake on such an important occasion, although the best thing about being your own boss is that you never get the sack!

So, with any luck, I will still be here to celebrate our centenary party in 2010.