ONE of the best-known hotels in Sussex is getting a multi-million pound facelift.

It is one of the biggest-ever revamps for Brighton's Grand Hotel.

The work includes replacing the 135-year-old domed glass canopy over the stairwell, hanging £9,000 curtains in the imposing Albert conference room, fitting an £80,000 carpet in the Empress Suite and giving 40 of the 200 rooms a £700,000 makeover.

Assistant manager John Higham said: "The glass dome started to crack so we decided it needed replacing for health and safety reasons.

"When guests look up from the ground floor they have a great view of the sky."

Work on the new dome, which cost £210,000, was completed last week. The rest of the improvements should be completed next year.

The Grand, in King's Road, became Brighton's first five-star hotel in 1988, but guests' expectations havechanged over the years.

Mr Higham said: "Expectations are a lot higher than five or ten years ago.

"There are a lot of programmes on the TV which tell people to complain about the finer details which they have tended to overlook in previous years, such as a glass missing from the minibar."

The Grand Hotel was built at a cost of £100,000 between 1862 and 1864.

It has hosted dignitaries including Presidents Kennedy and Reagan and Napoleon III.

In 1961, Brighton Council compulsorily purchased the eight-storey building so it could be demolished and an amusement centre built in its place.

But the Government stepped in and gave it listed building status, thus ensuring its survival.

Despite its distinguished past, the hotel is most famous for the IRA bombing on October 12, 1984, when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet were guests.

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