interview
Island Life - April/May 2011
Pamela, the lady
who changed the
face of hotels on
the Island
By Peter White
There cannot be too many hoteliers
brother Jim during the war, but later
who turned down a request from
returned to London to witness countless
The Beatles to book rooms at their
German air raids. The atrocities of the
establishment.
war clearly remain vivid memories,
And there cannot be too many who
which she prefers not to talk about.
have told a gang of Hells Angels to
“Eventually I think my father had had
Pamela arriving on the Island 1948
Dutch pork chops, whale meat, supplied
by a Ryde butcher, and powdered eggs,
leave the premises while Edward Heath,
enough, so we decided to move to
and we had to hold the ration books for
later to become Prime Minister, was an
the Isle of Wight. Father was a great
the guests, and take the food coupons
onlooker.
collector of cars and airplanes, and
for the Food Office,” recalled Pamela.
But Pamela Bailey was no ordinary
when we moved here there were three
Lionel attended Portsmouth Catering
hotelier. Shortly after the Second World
or four aerodromes so he brought
College to become a qualified chef,
War she and her late husband Lionel
two planes with us, and kept them at
while Pamela’s brother Jim worked at
embarked on a career that changed the
Cowes,” Pamela revealed.
the hotels. Then in 1954 came another
face of hotels here on the Island. Lionel
Having left school at 13, and worked
had his demob suit, and the couple had
briefly in London, Pamela’s first job on
bought the Royal Esplanade Hotel,
just £150 between them.
the Island was as a receptionist at the
Ryde, with Jim assuming the role of
Metropole Hotel in Ventnor. She said:
manager, and playing a vital part in its
mark not only until Lionel’s untimely
“I loved it there, and I stayed there
rejuvenation until he left to run his own
death in 1975, but to this very day, with
until after I met my husband. We were
business some 20 years later.
Pamela still assuming the matriarch’s
married in 1947. That was when we
role at the Royal Hotel in Ventnor,
started off with his pin-striped demob
totally on our own, so deposited £2,000
which her son William has owned and
suit and £150 gratuity, and I am quite
and bought the Royal Esplanade which
run since 1995.
proud of what happened from those
was very run down. We managed to
beginnings.”
raise the money, and although my car
But it was a partnership that left its
“Oh, no I am not the matriarch,”
major step when Pamela and Lionel
Pamela continued: “We decided to go
laughed Pamela, a sprightly lady, and
Pamela and Lionel moved to the
mother of three, grandmother of nine
17-bedroom London Hotel, Ryde in
and great grandmother of five. “Oh,
1948, as tenant-managers for Sunshine
yes you are,” said her daughter Nicky,
Hotels Ltd., and after elder daughter
a success of running the hotel over
who with husband Nick owned and ran
Annie was born they also took on the
the years was because of the help
the Seaview Hotel for 25 years.
Crown Hotel in Ryde, where second
we received from family and friends,
So I was eager to hear more from
daughter Nicky was born, as well as
including my sister Julie, and Julia
this interesting and highly successful
having a spell at the Vine Inn Hotel.
and Barry Roberts, as well as Jim. We
business woman. “I was born in Crouch
was one of the sacrifices, it was a very
important sacrifice.
“I think one of the reasons we made
“We were actually managers of the
worked through hard times, like the
End, London in 1926, and the family
bars, but tenants of the hotels, so the
polio epidemic, several outbreaks of
left London in 1945,” said Pamela, as
hotel side was our own business. We
foot and mouth, and of course major
if almost trying to forget some of the
had a fantastic clientele, but because
recessions, so today’s problems are
tougher times of her informative years.
it was just after the war there was
nothing new.”
In fact she was evacuated to Cornwall
still rationing so all meals had to be
with her two younger sisters and
accounted for. The main food was
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In fact times were so hard that for a
while Pamela and Lionel served spirits
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