The Grand Hotel first occupied part of the building constructed by Isaac Horton, on Colmore Row and Church Street between 1877 and 1879, with 100 bedrooms and a first-floor reception. It was let to Arthur Field, a hotel operator from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and opened on 1st February 1879.

​

Initial trading was not as good as was hoped for and by 1880 Mr Field was in arrears. By February 1890 he owed £7,902 10s 6d and the hotel was taken back by Hortons and closed for refurbishment. The refurbishment cost £40,000 and was supervised by architects Martin & Chamberlain.

 

When it re-opened in June 1891 the local press hailed it as “greatly changed and vastly improved” and hoped that “the fortunes of the hotel had been once and for all assured”.

​

In 1893 work began on the last of the 5 buildings that currently comprise the Grand Hotel, and the only one to be specifically designed as a hotel. Again Martin & Chamberlain were the architects and they created a 7 story building, plus 2 more floors of rooms in the roof, on Barwick Street containing the Grosvenor Suite and 75 new guest rooms, and added 2 stories to the Church Street wing. This was opened in 1895.