Princess Alexandra Opens Lancaster House Hotel

On 4 December 1991, Princess Alexandra performed the official opening ceremony for Lancaster House Hotel in Lancaster. The ceremony followed the hotel's operational opening on 12 July that year and formally marked the arrival of the first English Lakes hotel to be built on a greenfield site. Lancaster House represented a different type of development for our family business. Rather than acquiring and adapting an existing hotel, we created a purpose-built property close to Lancaster University, with accommodation, conference facilities and leisure amenities. The project extended our operations south from the Lake District and established a permanent English Lakes presence in Lancaster. The official opening by Princess Alexandra came almost five months after the first guests had been welcomed and remains an important date in the history of Lancaster House. English Lakes' historical record confirms 4 December 1991 as the ceremony date. A separate English Lakes article gives 14 December, but the company's principal timeline is the more direct historical source and is used here.