Ninety-four rooms behind a brass revolving door, a supper club that still runs a floor show on Fridays, and the Lantern Floor: a casino laid out under a stepped glass roof that drops light straight onto the tables.
18+The casino floor admits adults of 18 and over. Photo ID is checked at the door, every visit.
The Montrose Grand went up in two years on a terrace above the river bend, and opened on a wet evening in October 1927. Its first owner wanted a hotel that read as one idea from the pavement to the ninth floor: the same chevron inlay in the lobby marble, the same fluted brass on the lift doors, the same stepped arch over every corridor window. Most of that survived the decades when the building was let out as offices, because nobody could afford to rip it out.
The restoration took four years and finished in 2024. Ninety-four keys came back, the ballroom came back as the Supper Club, and the old central light-well was reglazed and turned into the Lantern Floor, where the casino now sits. Marble that had been painted over was stripped by hand. The pianist in Bar Celeste plays a 1931 grand that was found in the basement, strung but unplayable, and rebuilt by somebody who asked to stay anonymous.
What happens here happens on the premises, in person. This website is a description of a building and the things you can do inside it. There is nothing on it to play, no bet to place and no money to hand over.
Every room keeps its original door furniture, a writing desk under the window and a bathroom lined in the same green-veined marble. Floor areas are given to the nearest square metre.
The standard key, and the one we would pick in summer: it faces the inner courtyard, so the boulevard noise never reaches it. Inlaid headboard, a deep tub, blackout shutters that actually close.
Higher up, one floor above the treeline, with a bay window and the original curved radiator beneath it. Two armchairs, a drinks tray and a bathroom you can turn round in.
Named after the engineer who glazed the light-well. A sitting room on the corner, a dressing room with its own window and a bath set into a marble step. The quietest corner above the entrance.
The top of the building: two bedrooms, a kitchen nobody uses, and a sitting room that steps out onto a flat roof terrace beside the cupola. Sunset arrives here twenty minutes late.
The casino at the Montrose Grand occupies the old central light-well, five storeys of brickwork rising to a stepped glass roof. Daylight comes straight down onto the tables until the evening, and after dark the roof is lit from above so the glazing bars throw a grid across the marble. There is a gallery at mezzanine level for people who would rather watch than play.
It is not a vast floor. Eleven tables, a machine row along the west wall, a cashier in a brass cage and a casino bar at the river end. Our casino hosts work every shift and will walk anyone through a game, properly and slowly, before a single chip is bought.
This is a land-based casino inside a hotel, open to adult visitors who come through the door. The website you are reading offers no online casino games, takes no bets, accepts no deposits and processes no payments of any kind.
Open daily 16:00 – 03:00 · Friday & Saturday to 04:00
The kitchens work to a short card that changes with the market twice a week. Anyone may book, whether or not they have a key upstairs.
The old ballroom, with the dance floor left clear and tables ringed around it on two levels. Grilled fish, a trolley of roast meats, soufflés that have to be ordered at the start. A six-piece band plays from half past nine on Friday and Saturday.
Twelve stools at a brass rail, banquettes behind, and the rebuilt 1931 grand in the corner. Our resident pianist plays from six until midnight and takes requests on Mondays. The list of drinks without alcohol runs as long as the list with.
Breakfast under the chandeliers from half past six, which suits early trains. From noon it turns into a brasserie: one soup, three plates, a tart of the day and coffee that keeps coming without being asked for.
Nine seats at a cold marble slab at the back of the lobby, facing the ice. Oysters, brown shrimp, a crab salad and whatever white the sommelier has opened. No bookings; you wait for a stool or you do not.
The same seven evenings, all year. Residents and visitors are equally welcome; two of them need a table booked in advance.
Write what you want to hear on a card at Bar Celeste and the pianist will get to most of them.
A casino beginners' evening on the Lantern Floor: roulette and blackjack explained at a stopped table, nothing staked, questions encouraged. Adults 18+ only, ID checked at the door.
An hour of shellac records on the library gramophone, introduced by whoever chose them. Usually dance bands, occasionally not.
The counter opens a second ice tray and the sommelier pours three whites side by side, to be argued over.
Band, singer and two dancers in the Supper Club, between the second course and the trolley. Book a table.
Ten players on the stand, the tables pushed back and the floor given over to dancing until late. Book a table.
One film, a sheet hung at the end of the Marble Room, live accompaniment and a pot of tea. Children welcome at this one.
Reception posts the current week on a brass board beside the lift, and will hold a table if you write ahead.
Two floors under the lobby, the original bathing suite was rebuilt tile by tile from the 1927 drawings. It is the quietest place in the building and we keep it that way: no music, no screens, no telephone calls.
Keys are handed over from 15:00 and we ask for them back by 11:00. Luggage can sit with the porter on either side of a stay. The car court is round the side of the building, and the night porter answers the bell after one in the morning.
Children are welcome in the rooms, in the Marble Room, at the Sunday film and in the swimming bath during family hours. The Lantern Floor is closed to anyone under 18 at all times, including children walking through with a parent. Bar Celeste is adults only after nine.
A step-free route runs from the car court through the lobby to the Marble Room, the Supper Club and the Lantern Floor; the bathing suite is reached by lift. Four rooms are adapted, with level showers and wide doors. Tell us what you need and we will have it arranged before you arrive.
An evening on the Lantern Floor should cost what you decided it would cost before you walked in, and end when you said it would end. Our hosts will fix a limit with you, hold you to it, arrange a break of any length in confidence, or simply sit you down with a coffee. Nobody is ever talked back onto the floor.
Responsible gamingNo. The Montrose Grand is a hotel with a land-based casino floor inside it, and this website is a description of that building. You cannot play anything here, you cannot place a bet here, and the site takes no deposits and handles no payments. To play, you come to the Lantern Floor in person, with ID.
Adults of 18 or over, or older again where the local minimum age is higher. Photo identification is checked at the door on every visit, whatever age a visitor looks. A passport, national ID card or driving licence is fine; a photocopy or a photograph on a phone is not.
Not at all. The Lantern Floor, the Supper Club, Bar Celeste, the Marble Room and the Oyster Counter all take outside visitors, subject to the age check at the casino door and to space on the night.
Yes, and plenty do. They can eat in the Marble Room, come to the Sunday silent picture and swim during family hours. What they cannot do, at any hour and under any circumstances, is cross the threshold of the casino floor.
It is part of the job and nobody will think it odd. Tell a host what you intend to spend or how long you intend to stay, and they will note it, find you when the time is up, and decline to serve you past the figure you named.
During the day, whatever you like. After eight the Supper Club and the Lantern Floor expect smart dress: a jacket is common, a tie is not required, and sportswear and beach shoes are turned away at both doors.
The Supper Club seats a hundred and forty and can be hired whole on a Sunday or a Monday. The library takes twenty for a dinner. Write with your date and a rough number and the events office will come back with what is possible.
Send us your dates, the key you have in mind and anything that would make the stay work better: a cot, a high floor, a late train, a quiet table away from the band. An answer comes back from reception by email, and it is rarely more than a working day behind.
For a limit, a break or a self-exclusion on the casino floor, mark your message for the casino manager and it will not go any further.
Email reception