Throwback to a bygone era

My first impression of the Goring wasn't good. It's so close to Buckingham Palace, I was expecting to walk into something resembling a state room, but the reception and bar area were more like a down-at-heel Scottish hotel.

Absolutely no concession has been made to the design revolution that has taken place in this country in the past 25 years. Then there was the smell. As my wife and I walked in, we were almost knocked off our feet by the stench of boiled vegetables.

I couldn't tell whether it was coming from the hotel restaurant or the Palace next door - the flag indicated that Her Majesty was at home - but it was an inauspicious start to the evening.

Fortunately, things picked up when we entered the dining room which has just been redone by David Linley. The colour scheme favoured by the Queen's nephew is chocolate and cream. Rather bizarrely, he's combined this with several Swarovski crystal chandeliers that look like posh Christmas decorations.

Throw in some walnut pillars and a huge open fireplace and you'd expect the overall effect to be a little eccentric, but, funnily enough, it works. It's like a cross between a grand Alpine hotel and a gentleman's club. Who knows, maybe this is what the interior of Balmoral looks like.

The restaurant may have been given a face-lift, but the patrons haven't. My wife and I were the youngest people there by at least 20 years - and I'm 42.

It could easily have been the House of Lords dining room, an impression confirmed by the manager when he pointed out Baroness Thatcher's 'usual table' directly behind ours. Apparently, both she and Princess Anne favour the same spot, a fact that can make for some sticky moments when they both turn up on the same day.

In the mid-Eighties, I can imagine the dining room of the Goring being the epicentre of the British Establishment, but these days it's like a quaint throwback to a bygone era.

One of the charming things about this restaurant is that it has a museum-like quality. As the last five-star London hotel to remain in private hands, the Goring is a piece of living history.

In the corridors, every inch of wall space is filled with a yellowing, black-and-white photograph of some buck-toothed Royal enjoying a birthday celebration in one of the hotel's private dining rooms.