Remember

The immense Hôtel de Londres (with 50 rooms!) was built around 1837 for Monsieur Brossier, who previously ran the Ecu de Bretagne hotel and who was succeeded by Jules Budan (who would build his new hotel… The Budan where the current Crédit Mutuel sur la Loire bank is located…) and then Monsieur Sergé. The famous and miserly Jean Niveleau took a share of 10 francs in this investment.

This imposing building, crudely lithographed here by Jehan Merchant, was long surrounded by low houses and mail depots. This allowed its original name to be seen from afar on one side: "The Grand Hotel of London." The building and sign have remained unchanged for over 180 years, making it the oldest hotel in the city still in operation. Only the entrance door has been redone in the 1900s style with the addition of a winter garden in an Eiffel structure (the hotel's current reception room).

This menu of February 13, 1914 testifies to the opulence and gluttony of this period.

July 1914, Saumur is the scene of a tragic fact-miscellaneous. Legagneux, one of the pioneers of aviation, just died after his plane crashed in the Loire. Many are the brethren coming to pay him a last tribute in his room at the Grand Hotel de Londres, where a chapel was erected. This is how Legagneux enters the legend and the Le Londres Hotel in history.

During the Great War, the establishment was transformed into a convalescent home for wounded officers at the Front. Le Londres Hotel is losing some of its beauty.

A page of history has just been turned. This hotel, which has become a real institution after more than a century of existence, bears witness to what Saumur was at the end of the XNUMXth century: a social gathering popular with all of Paris.

These invoices from the 1910s and 1920s bear witness to the fact that the Grand Hôtel de Londres belonged to the Lacote-Nivet and then Lacote families.

Le Londres Hotel then passed into the hands of the Hayot, Giot & Delanoe families before being bought by the current owners: Charlotte & François CHOVET in July 2005.

Motivated by a total professional retraining (François was an automotive engineer and Charlotte was passionate about the field of professional retraining and the fulfillment of the person in his work ...), they embarked body & soul in this beautiful hotel adventure at the service of the well-being of their customers and the enhancement of their heritage.

After 10 years, the goal is achieved: total renovation of the establishment both in terms of rooms and water, gas and electricity, creation of 2 aparthotels, obtaining the 3th star and ... installation a magnificent marquise above the entrance, as in the early twentieth century. They will take the opportunity to reinvigorate the name of the hotel in "Le Londres", which allows to add "Hotel & Apartments".

"In order to establish our presence on the street, we needed to mark the entrance to the establishment." After six years of reflection and with the support of the city's architects and the French Buildings Authority, François Chovet was able to launch this project thanks to two "local and passionate companies with exceptional know-how": Adrien Bredy, roofer, and Anjou ironworks. A real challenge for Adrien, based in Chacé, who trained with the Compagnons du Devoir: "It's one of the only works using this glass roof principle. There are a number of difficulties, particularly with the double curvature. In fact, it's a bit like an airplane propeller." Objective achieved, canopy installed in April 6!