Putting on the Ritz

The Ritz Hotel ~ Conceived by Cesar Ritz in 1906 with the aim of becoming the ultimate location for guests in luxurious surroundings. The list of famous clientele is endless with the likes of Edward VII, Aga Khan, Paul Getty staying there and Churchill, Eisenhower, and de Gaulle discussing operations during the Second World War.

Charlie Chaplin required 40 officers to escort him through his fans into the hotel in 1921 and Jackie Onassis described The Ritz as paradise.

In recent times ‘Notting Hill’ filmed the press conference with Julia Roberts in the Trafalgar Suite and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother regularly dined at The Ritz.

I thought it was a perfect backdrop to shoot the Thomas Earnshaw Grand Calendar watch and they have kindly offered 30% discount to my followers using the code GRAHAM30.

Beautifully crafted with the date and day flanking either side of an exposed flywheel and finished with a genuine leather strap in tan.

We continued the London tour with a visit to Fortnum & Mason Department store. Beginning in 1705 when Hugh Mason, who created a small store in St James Market and a spare room in his house, and the Fortnum family who had arrived in London as high class builders reinvigorating Mayfair in the wake of the Great Fire. William Fortnum, who was quite the entrepreneur, also took a post as Footman in Queen Anne’s household and in Mr Mason’s spare room, where Fortnum met Mason.

The highlight for me was the grand spiral staircase which had been festively decorated and was the centrepiece of the whole store.

Finally on to Burlington Arcade, which is a covered shopping arcade that runs behind Bond Street to Piccadilly, which was a precursor to the modern shopping centre. Built in 1819 after Lord George Cavendish, who lived in Burlington House commissioned his architect Samuel Ware to design a covered promenade of shops, unofficially to stop ruffians from throwing rubbish, in particular oyster shells, onto his property. The arcade consisted of a single straight top-lit walkway lined with 72 small two-storey units.

 

This Thomas Earnshaw watch was complimentary. As always, all opinions are my own.