The day the Echo had a look round the empty shell of the Grand Hotel in 1974
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00:00 The Grand Hotel in Sunderland. Once a welcoming place for celebrities to stay. It was ornate,
00:07 had a spiral staircase, and could boast that guests included Corrie Starr, Pat Phoenix,
00:14 Chart Sensation Helen Shapiro, and the fab four themselves, the Beatles. But sadly, the
00:20 hotel, which once boasted the Georgian Room, Jacobean Room, Victoria Room and Stuart Room,
00:27 closed in January 1969 and was put up for auction in 1971. No bids were forthcoming
00:35 and it was withdrawn from the auction. Demolition followed in October 1974 and the Echo was
00:43 there to record these final moments. We caught images of the scaffolding going up, the remnants
00:49 of a once proud era, and the days when the building came down. But what do you remember
00:56 of the Grand Hotel? Email chris.cordner@nationalworld.com to tell us more.
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