Opening of the Theatre Royal Hotel.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4306, 19 October 1882, Page 2

Opening of the Theatre Royal Hotel.

Although the bar of the Theatre Royal Hotel has been open for some time, the house was not until yesterday ready for the accommodation of lodgers or visitors. The occasion was celebrated by a luncheon, to which many prominent citizens and old friends of Mr Symington sat down, the enormous dining tablet being scarcely sufficient to accommodate the guests. The repast was spread in excellent style, and included the rarest dainties of the season. It were superflous to add that beer and wines in profusion adorned the table. The host .'occupied the head of the table, and Cr John Wilson the other end. The inner man strengthened and comforted, Cr Wilson proposed the health Mr and Mrs Symington in felicitous terms, expressing pleasure at meeting so many old friends, and hoped that their •"host, and hostess would have what everyone would agree they deserved, a happy and prosperous future. Mr Symington having responded, the visitors were conducted through the house.

As the Theatre was probably the largest building on the Thames it follows that it should make the most commodious hotel. Outside, by the aid of carpenter and painter, the appearance of the building has been completely changed. The tumbledown barn»like building has - been metamorphosed into a grand looking hotel, in eTery way a credit to our township. Bat this change is nothing compared to the alteration inside ; the person who had been in the Theatre hundreds of times previously would probably not recognise a familiar feature. Entering the house from Owen street a magnificent hall 113 ft long and seven feet wide meets the view, at the end of which is a beautiful window of stained glass. The first door on the right opens into the billiard room, not yet finished. Next is a large sitting room admirably adapted for meetings of goldmining companies, or persons who hare business to transact. There are three tables which can be placed together or used separately. Beyond this is a cheerful, neatly furnished dining-room, 38 by 32 feet, and further on is the ample kitched supplied with a large range made by Mr Fisher. On the left side of the hall past the bar are two parlors, supplied with every convenience, which are well patronised in the evenings. Further on are two sample rooms for commercial travellers having an entrance from Williamson street. At the end of the hall a wide and elegrant stairway, leading backward, ascends to the second storey. Here a wide passage extends the whole length of the building, on the right side of which are bedrooms, that for size or comfort are scarcely likely to be surpassed anywhere. At present there are nine bedrooms, three of them being double. At the end of the passage is a cosy sitting room, affording a view to both the main street and that portion of the harbor towards Curtis' s wharf. There will b> a plunge bath on this floor, and a shower bath below. Four more bedrooms are under way, and there is space for twenty or thirty more on the left side of the passages; Besides the parlors mentioned, Mr Altogether Mr Symington is to be congratulated upon possessing an hotel, in most respects superior to. almost all, and as a whole second to none on the Thames. Old times will indeed have changed if the geniality of the pro* prietor, and motherliness of his better half, added to the excellent inducements afforded by the house,' do not ensure a large and ever increasing business.