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36-765: In the mid-18th century, the French postmaster, Charles-Augustin Meurice (born 1738), understood that English tourists wanted to be on the continent with the comforts and conveniences they were used to at home. In 1771, Meurice opened a coach inn on Rue Edmond Roche in Calais , the Hôtel Meurice de Calais . In 1815, he opened the Hôtel Meurice in Paris, originally located at 223 Rue Saint-Honoré. Le Meurice offered everything to make life easier for

72-541: A cock and bull story. However, there is no evidence to suggest that this is where the phrase originated. The phrase, first recorded in 1621, may instead be an allusion to Aesop's fables , with their incredible talking animals. Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and

108-493: A deal that pooled 8,450 pubs as the jointly owned Inntrepreneur Estates Company. Inntrepreneur had to have 4,350 tied pubs by the time the Beer Orders took effect, which led to many being sold and fewer being let on free-of-tie leases. In September 1993, 1,654 Chef & Brewer pubs were sold to Scottish & Newcastle (subsequently bought by Heineken). 1,750 pubs were sold in 1995 for £254M to Nomura as Phoenix Inns in one of

144-463: Is in the style of Louis XVI . The renovations also included a campaign led by Jean-Loup Roubert and the architect Nicolas Papamiltiades , which changed certain areas of the building for technical reasons, with the creation of an underground infrastructure for heating and cooling, and for aesthetic purposes. New reception rooms have been created on the ground floor, while the main entrance was moved to Rue de Rivoli. Decorations, mosaics and moldings were

180-566: Is now central London . The only remaining one with the galleries to the bedrooms above is The George Inn, Southwark , owned by the National Trust and still run as a pub. Many have been demolished and plaques mark their location. The Nomura building close to the Museum of London on London Wall commemorates the "Bull and Mouth" Inn. The Golden Cross House, opposite St Martin's in the Fields recalls

216-618: Is probably the oldest Welsh coaching inn. Other historic inns in Wales include the Black Boy Inn (built 1522) and the Groes Inn (1573). The Bear, Oxford , was founded in 1774 as 'The Jolly Trooper' from the house of the stableman to the coaching inn 'The Bear Inn', on High Street . It acquired the name The Bear, and the history of the coaching inn, when The Bear Inn was converted into a private house in 1801. There were many coaching inns in what

252-779: The Watch The Throne album. The hotel has been a setting for several films, including Is Paris Burning? (1966, René Clément ), Julia (1977, Fred Zinnemann ), The Blood of Others (1984, Claude Chabrol ), Mata Hari (1985, Curtis Harrington ), Angel-A (2006, Luc Besson ), Notre univers impitoyable (2007, Léa Fazer ), Les Femmes de l'ombre (2008, Jean-Paul Salomé ), Demain dès l'aube ( Denis Dercourt ) and La folle histoire d’amour de Simon Eskenazy ( Jean-Jacques Zilbermann ) in 2009, Midnight in Paris ( Woody Allen ) and W.E ( Madonna ) in 2010 and Diplomacy in 2014. Coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn )

288-807: The Principe di Savoia in Milan, Hotel Eden in Rome, and Le Richemond in Geneva. The French ministry of economy recognized Le Meurice with palace distinction in 2011 on the first official list of government-approved palaces in France. Le Meurice has two main restaurants. Restaurant le Meurice overlooks the Tuileries Garden and was run by 3 Michelin star chef Yannick Alléno until 2013 when he resigned and 3 Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse

324-846: The Shah of Persia , and the Bey of Tunis stayed at the Meurice. Business leaders such as Rockefeller , politicians like French President Gaston Doumergue , who sometimes dined with his wife Jeanne-Marie Graves , President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt , Count Ciano , the British Prime Minister Anthony Eden , Wilbur Wright , and others were well known guests. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor stayed at Le Meurice on their return from honeymoon in September 1937, and where they announced their intention to tour Nazi Germany later

360-584: The Tuileries Palace . A wealthy clientele followed, and during the July Monarchy to the French Third Republic , Le Meurice welcomed the high society of the time, who appreciated the quality of service, the refinement of the rooms and lounges, as well as the exceptional location of the hotel in the heart of Paris, near luxury boutiques. In the latter half of the 19th century, Henri-Joseph Scheurich

396-712: The Aga Khan, faced with extreme financial difficulties, sold the CIGA chain to ITT Sheraton . However, at the urging of his senior hospitality advisor, Paul Ruffino, he maintained ownership of the Meurice until 1997, when he sold the hotel to the Sultan of Brunei's Brunei Investment Agency , who made it part of the company's Dorchester Collection . The Meurice underwent another round of extensive renovation and restoration between 1998 and 2000. In 2007, Le Meurice began renovations under Philippe Starck and Franka Holtmann, General Manager. Its decor

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432-658: The Company sold the Liggett Group to Bennett S. LeBow . It acquired Heublein wines and spirits from RJR Nabisco in 1987, which made it one of the largest producers of wines and spirits in the world, and gave the company ownership of the Smirnoff brand. Also in 1987 the Company withdrew from catering when it disposed of its catering division by way of a management buyout so creating Compass Group . In February 1988 386 pubs in London,

468-504: The European and Commonwealth rights to Smirnoff vodka . It changed its name to Grand Metropolitan in 1973. The business failed to acquire the Coral bookmakers from Joe Coral in 1980 to expand its betting and gaming operations, but did succeed in acquiring Liggett Group , a US tobacco and drinks business. In 1981 it bought Warner Holidays and Intercontinental Hotels Corporation. In 1986

504-536: The Golden Cross, Charing Cross coaching inn. A pair of coaching inns along Watling Street in Stony Stratford are claimed to have given rise to the term " cock and bull stories ". The claim is that stories by coach passengers would be further embellished as they passed between the two hostelries, "The Cock" and "The Bull", fuelled by ale and an interested audience. Hence any suspiciously elaborate tale would become

540-527: The Home Counties and East Anglia were sold to Brent Walker ; 210 pubs in the north and Midlands went to Heron International and 105 pubs in the South East went to Gibbs Mew (a Wiltshire brewer subsequently bought by Enterprise Inns). Intercontinental Hotels were sold to Japanese based Saison Group. These disposals funded the expansion of its core betting operations by buying William Hill . It also entered

576-618: The Meurice once even obtained a court order forcing Mata Hari to pay outstanding fees. In December 2006, the President of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika , after surgery at the military hospital of Val de Grace , continued his recovery at the Meurice. Housed in a presidential suite, the head of the Algerian state gave a television interview from there on 17 December; he left the Meurice on 31 December to return home. In 2011, Jay-Z and Kanye West recorded their hit " Niggas in Paris " at Hôtel Meurice for

612-408: The city of Paris. Hitler's reported question screamed to von Choltitz over a Hotel Meurice telephone, "Is Paris burning?", later served as the title of a best-selling book about the liberation of Paris , and the 1966 film which was shot partly at the Meurice. During its long existence, Le Meurice has experienced several transfers of ownership as well as major refurbishments: one from 1905 to 1907,

648-587: The fast food industry by buying the Pillsbury Company and with it the Burger King chain in 1988. It also bought the Wimpy chain that year and merged it with Burger King. It continued to sell non-core business, including in 1990 the brewers Samuel Webster's and in 1991 Ushers of Trowbridge . In March 1991 the remaining breweries were sold to Courage (subsequently sold by Foster's to Scottish & Newcastle) in

684-554: The first securitisation deals, and in May 1996 a further 1,410 pubs were transferred to Spring Inns with a view to a similar sale. In the end Inntrepreneur and Spring were both sold to Nomura for £1.2bn in September 1997 to clear the way for the Guinness deal. This left Nomura with 4,400 pubs They created the Unique Pub Co for the 2,600 pubs that had signed the controversial SupplyLine agreement;

720-462: The future Napoleon III , to settle at Le Meurice during Napoleon's stay in the capital. The first monarch to have stayed at the new Meurice in Paris was King Alfonso XIII of Spain. When he was ousted in 1931, the fallen monarch sought refuge at the Meurice and set up the seat of his government in exile. Following him, the Prince of Wales , the kings of Italy, Belgium, Greece, Bulgaria, Denmark, Montenegro,

756-578: The grand salon Pompadour with white trimmings, a restaurant with marble pilasters and gilded bronzes as a living tribute to the Peace of Versailles , and the wrought iron canopy over the lobby. Between September 1940 and August 1944, the hotel was requisitioned by the German occupation authorities. In August 1944, the Meurice became the headquarters of General Dietrich von Choltitz , the military governor of Paris. von Choltitz famously disobeyed Hitler's commands to level

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792-555: The guidance of the architect Henri Paul Nénot , winner of the Grand Prix de Rome . For interior decoration, especially for rooms on the ground floor, the Louis XVI style prevailed. The rooms were equipped with modern, tiled bathrooms, telephone, and electric butler bells. Public rooms were relocated and reinforced concrete was added for privacy, and the elevator was a copy of the sedan chair used by Marie Antoinette . Other additions included

828-569: The properties just a year later, in October 1979, to Maxwell Joseph 's UK-based Grand Metropolitan Hotels . When Grand Met bought Inter-Continental Hotels a year later, in 1981, they made the Meurice part of that chain. Grand Met sold the Meurice back to CIGA in 1984 for around US$ 100 million. CIGA was, by this point, controlled by the Aga Khan , the spiritual head of the Ismaili Muslim sect. In 1994,

864-591: The public riding stagecoaches between one town and another, and (in England at least) the mail coach . Just as with roadhouses in other countries, although many survive, and some still offer overnight accommodation, in general coaching inns have lost their original function and now operate as ordinary pubs . Coaching inns stabled teams of horses for stagecoaches and mail coaches and replaced tired teams with fresh teams. In America, stage stations performed these functions. Traditionally English coaching inns were seven miles (11 km) apart but this depended very much on

900-537: The remaining 1,100 Voyager pubs were free-of-tie, earmarked for disposal or were the 400 locked in legal disputes over SupplyLine. Disposals and the acquisition of Inn Partnership (1,241 tenanted pubs) from Greenall Whitley in 1998 and 988 smaller Bass pubs in 2001. The remains of the Grand Metropolitan pub estate became part of Enterprise Inns when an Enterprise-led consortium bought 3,219 tenanted Unique pubs and 940 leased and managed Voyager pubs from Nomura in

936-777: The same year . Salvador Dalí spent about a month of each year over 30 years in the old Royal Suite, (spanning Rooms 106 and 108) which had been used by King Alphonse XIII . Others included the Wright Brothers, Giorgio de Chirico , Rudyard Kipling , Edmond Rostand , Gabriele D'Annunzio , Paul Morand , Walter Lippmann , Yehudi Menuhin , Seiji Ozawa , Anne-Sophie Mutter and Plácido Domingo . Past guests also include film stars and directors such as Franco Zeffirelli , Liza Minnelli , Fernandel , Mike Todd , Eddie Fisher , Ginger Rogers , Yul Brynner , Bette Midler , Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton . The socialite Mata Hari stayed at Le Meurice on several occasions. The manager of

972-475: The second in 1947 and most recently in 1998. Each of these renovations included modernization and beautification of the hotel. The Société du Grand Hôtel, which also owned the nearby Le Grand Hotel and Hotel Prince de Galles, sold the three properties in 1972 to the Italian CIGA Hotels chain. CIGA then sold them in 1978 to Limnico, a subsidiary of Roger Tamraz 's First Arabian Corporation. Limnico resold

1008-520: The shareholders of the new company was Arthur Millon , owner of Café de la Paix and restaurants Weber and Ledoyen . To compete with the Ritz, which opened in 1902, Millon turned to a great Swiss hotelier, Frédéric Schwenter . Under these two men, Le Meurice was enlarged by the addition of the Metropole Hotel, located on Rue de Castiglione. Then, with the exception of the façade, the hotel was rebuilt under

1044-636: The subject of extensive renovation by skilled craftsmen. The hotel is now owned and managed by the Brunei Investment Agency's Dorchester Collection . Le Meurice joined the collection in 1997 which includes nine other luxury hotels: The Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, The Dorchester and 45 Park Lane in London, Coworth Park in Ascot, the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris,

1080-555: The terrain. Some English towns had as many as ten such inns and rivalry between them was intense, not only for the income from the stagecoach operators but for the revenue for food and drink supplied to the passengers. Barnet , Hertfordshire still has an unusually high number of historic pubs along its high street due to its former position on the Great North Road from London to Scotland. The Black Lion in Cardigan (established 1105)

1116-473: The traveler; apartments of various sizes, areas set aside where travelers could sit and talk, specialty laundry soap, English-speaking staff, and currency exchange, among other amenities. The hotel advertised, "For an English traveler, no hotel in Paris offers more benefits than Le Meurice." In 1835, Le Meurice moved from Rue Saint Honore to its current location on the Rue de Rivoli, in a new luxurious building, close to

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1152-463: Was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo in 1997. The business began in 1934 as a hotel business called MRMA Ltd (abbreviated from Mount Royal Metropolitan Association). Grand Hotels (Mayfair) Ltd, a business founded after World War II by Maxwell Joseph , merged with MRMA in 1957 and the combined business expanded rapidly under Joseph's leadership. It

1188-412: Was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway , providing a resting point ( layover ) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of travellers, for food, drink, and rest. The attached stables, staffed by hostlers , cared for the horses, including changing a tired team for a fresh one. Coaching inns were used by private travellers in their coaches ,

1224-729: Was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1961 and changed its name to Grand Metropolitan Hotels Ltd in 1962. It diversified into catering acquiring Bateman Catering in 1967 and then Midland Catering in 1968. It then bought Express Dairies in 1969, the Berni Inn chain, and the Mecca bingo halls in 1970. Next came its move into brewing, when in 1972 it bought Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co. and Watney Mann . The latter's subsidiary International Distillers & Vintners owned Justerini & Brooks , Baileys Irish Cream , Gilbey's gin, Piat wine and Croft sherry and port brands, as well as

1260-425: Was its proprietor and, in 1865, he is documented as managing the hotel under the London and Paris Hotel Company. He is mentioned again in 1867, at which time the hotel offered large and small apartments, or single bedrooms; and featured a reading room and smoking room. In 1891, the hotel had electric lights, new plumbing, and accommodated 200 guests; Scheurich was still the proprietor. In the early 20th century, one of

1296-447: Was named head chef. Restaurant Le Dali is situated under a 145 square metre (1560 square feet) canvas painted by Ara Starck , the daughter of Philippe Starck . It also has the cocktail bar Bar 228 with leather armchairs and dark woodwork furnishings. The hotel has accommodated numerous kings, sultans, and other eminent guests. Its location near the seat of government was one of the reasons prompting Miss Howard , mistress and patron of

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