IT'S not every day you go to bed in one hotel and wake up in another. That’s what I did last month when the Principal York was relaunched as The Milner York. I arrived at the magnificent Grade II-listed building just after finishing work.
The hotel is situated right next to York Railway Station and was originally the Royal Station Hotel, before becoming the Royal York Hotel and then the Principal in 2015. It has undergone several renovations, with summer seeing the installation of air conditioning units, so demanded by the upmarket hotel’s international guests, as part of a £2 million spend on the transition. The 135-bed 4-star hotel’s latest name, amid other rebranding, aim’s to better reflect its York heritage.
William Milner was a foreman at York Railway Station, who tragically died in a World War Two bombing raid in 1942 when he rushed back into a station office to retrieve a first aid kit. He posthumously received a King’s commendation for gallantry. The Peachy Bar and Grill honours the hotel’s architect William Peachey.
The Swollen Gambler bar honours George Hudson, a wealthy York landowner and York Lord Mayor, who was heavily involved in the railway industry and known for loving a drink and good food. Anyway, one of York’s finest buildings couldn’t be handier for the station, but overnight parking is available at £17.50 for 24 hours.
Check-in was fast and friendly and you are taken aback by the elegance of the surroundings, with high ceilings, sweepin.