The hotel the fire and the toast. Astonishing Glasgow Ep.68

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

This video is certainly bringing back a lot of memories for folk but could I ask you not to comment about unproven causes and theories behind the fire. I really dont want to start 2025 being taken to court for allowing untrue or slanderous comments on my video. Cheers.

[@wildscotsman1]

This was a great trip down memory lane for me as Rio Stakis' daughter was one of my close friends way back in the '60's. We regularly dined at several of his restaurants along with her family and then I would go dancing with her at The Locarno.

[@royale4318]

I see the ride quality in the new Subway trains is as smooth as ever .....

[@rgedwards3412]

Thanks for another great video, Dave. At the time I lived in student digs in Oakfield Avenue, and had headed out on a dark evening to post a letter in Great Western Road. The fire hoses lying along the gutter puzzled me; I later concluded they were probably pumping water from the river at Kelvinbridge. I followed the hoses up the hill, which led me to the blazing Grosvenor, the huge flames billowing out of the arched windows an unforgettable sight. Had it happened a few years earlier, I suspect the rebuild would not have matched the original terrace, so I think this marked a pivotal point in the appreciation of Glasgow's grand buildings, albeit the new facade is precast concrete not sandstone. After all these years, it still looks good, and you have to look carefully to see where the original terrace ends.

[@scoobydooo4390]

I was a Lab Tech in the Western Inf. Pathology Dept. at the time of the fire and Watched the 'Green Goddesses as they cleared up the mess. This video brought it all back...Many thanks...

[@mirandolina46]

We had our wedding reception in the Grosvenor Hotel in August 1974. I also did a 2-week stint as a temporary typist in the Stakis offices in Buchanan St (??) when I finished Uni, before I got the job that took me away from Glasgow. All the best for the New Year!

[@stevethom4329]

Great video and history! Unfortunately Hilton sold the hotel a few years back and is slowly going downhill 😢

[@saintuk70]

Have stayed in the Grosvenor may times during the 70s and 80s - leading up to the fire we stayed three or four times and with each visit we experienced evacuations 'cos of the fire alarm being tripped.

[@johnmacbeth4466]

Thanks and Happy New Year 🎉

[@shugthehornyhaggis]

All the best for the new year thank you for all the great content

[@MrScotia]

Great video. I still call it the Stakis Hotel and remember the large Stakis signage on the building and although the fire happened a few years before I was born, I mind my gran saying something about it when we took a walk up Great Western Road after visiting the Botanic Gardens. Some very impressive terraces up that way. Happy New Year to you and all the best for 25.

[@dermotwalsh9572]

I was at Glasgow uni then. I was Watching the army squaddies trying to halt the fire with the old green goddesses. It was a brave effort and the renovation brought it back to its former glory.

[@-11114]

Another fascinating video . Looking forward to the next one always so interesting and so well produced. Grateful Thanks Dave And Blessings to you and your family for 2025

[@ArcAudios77]

Thanks Sir, well put together. Area is local to my School so past it regular - never knew the specifics of the Fire. Appreciated, regards & best wishes for 2025.

[@sammyk.3567]

My Godmother, born Glasgow but married in NJ, USA, would yearly return to the Grosvenor. Said the staff would remember her by name. On one of my trips I checked the hotel out. The truth be known I discovered an excellentt wee bar in the Hotel and had to wonder, well? Just saying. Wink, wink! Dave, thank you for a year of excellent videos and as mentioned below, "Hard work too." Have a great New Year.

[@colinblack7049]

Another great video Dave, I remember the fire and the army standing in for the striking fire brigade. I don't know if the outcome would've been any different if the fire brigade was working. When I was younger my pals and I used to go drinking in a hotel on a Sunday.

[@okiwatashi2349]

I remember standing across great western road watching the fire when I was a kid. The heat was unbearable even at the other side of the road.

[@barrypaton9726]

Yes I know Grosvenor Terrace. My parents bought number 12. After the fire. A very beautiful terrace. Used to eat in the restaurant there.

[@Concreteowl]

Happy New Year .

[@Trogadorr]

I walk the dog past that hotel almost every day and had no knowledge of this...interesting as always thank you!

[@danielmainlandphotography]

I had my wedding reception there 20 years ago!

[@MrNemo-oi8cl]

I lived in Kelvinbridge back then-the fire/flames were phenomenal.

[@ailishbethd4033]

Excellent again! Just catching up on your videos I missed. I remember being in a Stakis restaurant on Bath Street I think in 1976. It was across from Watt Bros. Have you any idea what it was called? I hope I'm remembering correctly.

[@thomasmcloney1437]

Thanks man .cheers and happy new year. Much appreciate your work. Good luck from Melbourne.

[@alexbowman7582]

We stayed on 311 Maryhill Road across from the Community Halls and most of the tenements between us and the River Kelvin were demolished. We could see the massive flames from the fire at that distance.

[@alastairfinn1305]

Another fantastic video Dave, thanks for all your hard work over the year. Happy new year to you and your family and lang may your lum reek.

[@astracash]

Thanks love the vids

[@ronweston9574]

Thanks

[@davidcraig9538]

I'm a local chef. This story has blown me away thanks

[@andrewheaney6858]

It’s a while since I’ve lived in Glasgow, but I’m almost sure one of his casinos was called the Grovener too near Glasgow cross ? anyway all the very best for the New Year and looking forward to many more interesting videos in 25 Dave 😊🍻

[@shedhead00]

I started my career with stakis way back in 1982. Fond memories.

[@fburton8]

On the night of the fire, I was at a friend's house across the road and round the corner in Hamilton Drive. Opening the front door as I was leaving, we smelt the smoke and went round to see the failed attempt to stop the blaze. (We also explored the remains of the underground station at Botanic Gardens after it was destroyed by fire in 1970, but that's another story!)

[@garypeacock5919]

Great video, it's a shame the building has been run down over the years, I was the last person to paint the full facade on Gt western road, that was in the summer of 96, I live 2 minutes away from it now and walk past it most days, unfortunately the Hilton group don't seem interested in keeping up appearances.

[@GoFkGoogle]

The Grosvenor is not owned or operated by Hilton. Hilton were leasing the premises from the Mastcraft Group (registered in London, owned by the Sanger family) and chose not to renew the lease during Covid. The Grosvenor is currently managed by 7 Hospitality Management Ltd based out of Perth Scotland.

[@janetmackinnon3411]

HAppy NEw Year when it comes!

[@scottmasson3336]

The night before the fire drinks were transferred to the Grosvenor in Edinburgh. Someone I knew at the time was involved. Stakis had been refused planning permission to do what he eventually got. I believe this was not the first Fire in a premises owned by him.

[@DAGO58]

Rio’s old family home in Dunblane caught fire this year. It laid abandoned for many years since his passing.

[@MartinBertram-q4r]

Hi can you do a history of Hospital Street Gorbals I grew up there as a kid in the sixties

[@yellowfolder]

The first Glasgow fire I've heard of that doesn't appear to be a job of some kind. Tragic, but completely restored.

[@michaelcerkez3895]

Well 2024 is near come to an end. We would like to thank the Resident Historian for all his fine work and hours of filming. We look forward to more of the same regarding the town we all love so much. And also thank the wifee for your time away. Until 2025, Slàinte Mhath, Cheerio

[@ninogaggi]

Mrs Astonishing 😂😂😂😂😂

[@Dominic-ih1qr]

The Oasis at Dougrie Drive Castlemilk was not a Hotel. It was a former Woolworths converted into the first pub in Castlemilk in the early 1980's

[@gimpygunner7327]

I was going to say the same. The Oasis is now called The Bonnie Braes.

[@GrahamDallas]

Another "astonishing" video to close out the year. I have the name Stakis at the back of my mind, but didn't know the extent of the empire or the tragedy of the fire at the Grosvenor.

[@lynnybee6328]

Rio Stakis did own the big O in castlemilk but it was never a hotel , it kept pub hours as that's what it was a pub.

[@davie8906]

If he'd had a share in benigans, he'd be rich. Ganja commission style 😉

[@Evemeister12]

Conspiracy theory. The fire wasn't accidental. It allowed the owner to rebuild the place the way he wanted it.

[@fburton8]

Were the underground trains always so shuggly?

[@AstonishingGlasgow]

In my experience yes but when each carriage had a door on the end you didn't get to see the effect through the train.

[@scoobydooo4390]

@@AstonishingGlasgow The original Victorian subway carriages didn't just 'shoogle', the whole carriage sides would sway independently of the chassis, as if they had a mind of their own, quite alarming if you weren't used to it..........!!

[@fburton8]

@@AstonishingGlasgow Yeah, that makes sense!

[@robertdoyle687]

You should have travelled in the pre 1980s cars - they really did shoogle and there was a memorable smell in the stations 😊

[@davie8906]

Even a burnt-out building STILL funds englaza 😮‍💨

[@larrywinning5183]

SOME OF THE ARMY LADS WERE CHARGED AND FINED FOR “APPROPRIATING” SOME ALCOHOL. THE COFFEE STALL OPPOSITE AT THE BOTANIC GARDENS WAS SO BUSY THAT NIGHT, IN FACT SOLD OUT!!

[@rotinkerbell]

So many Stakis venues caught fire. So many coincidental incendiary events?

[@poppycat106]

Thanks

[@cubby170279]

Thanks