The end of an era. The Nassau Beach Hotel, which has existed on the Cable Beach Strip since the 1940's officially closed on January 4th and is set to be imploded this week, to make way for the new billion dollar Baha Mar mega resort development. The Nassau Beach Hotel which has appeared in two James Bond movies, occupied a prime spot on one of Nassau's best beaches and has been the home of both the highly popular Cafe Johnny Canoe Restaurant and The King and Knights Night Club for years. I remember as a small child being taken to the hotel on Saturdays to eat ice cream from the Howard Johnsons Ice Cream Parlour that used to occupy the area that Sbarros presently operates from. I also attended many receptions and parties at the hotel over the years. I feel sorry for the employees of the hotel and restaurants that are being forced out of work, but I believe that the hotel employees along with the restaurants and their employees have been invited to reopen and work at the Baha Mar property once it opens for business
As they say, progress has a price. We'll see what the future holds.
16 comments:
My family has spent most of this week walking around this magnificent old landmark and relaxing on it´s now deserted beach. We are just so sad that this venerable old hotel is to be destroyed in the name of progress. Didn´t it occur to anyone that visitors to Nassau could be charmed by this colonial jewel if it were lovingly refurbished? The proposed replacement is horrifying - a plastic wasteland totally without charm. Nassau Beach Hotel is a symbol of the Caribbean - out with all the good old traditions and go for the money instead. So sad.
Thanks for your comment pilky. All the hotel needs is some TLC. The former government (PLP) which lost the elections in May of 2007 was very proud to annouce the arrival of the huge Baha Mar development. It seems that for the sake of investment, many concessions were given to the company which included the tearing down of quite a few historic building that would have been in the way. There are also plans to demolish the police station, Scotia Bank building and pretty much everything else on the southern side of the road. I understand now that the new FNM government has begun a last minute review of these concessions and has made some revisions that Baha Mar has seemingly rejected. Therefore, we now have to wait and see what exactly will happen when they come to an agreement.
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Hello Ellsworth,
Thank you for posting the information on The Nassau Beach Hotel. I, too, possess an above-average appreciation for and interest in many aspects of The Bahamas.
I am terribly upset about the impending destruction of The Nassau Beach Hotel, although I have known about it for over a year. My family used to live on Cable Beach: at The Hubbard Cottages, to the west of the Raddison, and my mother and father would spend all their time at The Nassau Beach in their youth. The hotel is a central theme in my family's stories and history, which they have fondly recounted to me. On almost every trip to Nassau, I would stay at The Nassau Beach.
It is such a pretty hotel, and I have thought, for over a decade, that it simply needs to be gutted and refurbished. A big job, to be sure, but it then could have been marketed as a medium-sized, slightly upmarket hotel, sold as an "authentic" Caribbean experience. It was erroneous for the owners to simply let it become a cheap student spot, a place for the uninterested to crash.
I hope that the current FNM government is prohibiting the Baha Mar people from tearing down The Hubbard Cottages, the green house next door, Sulgrave Manor, and La Playa.
The push to develop Nassau has, over the past 20 to 30 years, put the nation in the enviable position of being one of the region's most successful jurisdictions. This push for success is understandable, and has produced not entirely negative results. One needs to only look at some other island nations, with their relatively poor infrastructure and lack of amenities, as a comparative example. I do think, though, that future development plans should take into account the rich architectural history of Nassau, and be subject to things like zoning laws and similar restrictions.
Thank you, thank you, for reading my post, and allowing visitor comments.
July 11, 2017
Coming up on our 50th wedding anniversary, honeymoon at the glorious Nassau Beach Hotel. Gone. Are you kidding me. Is there anything worthwhile on premises now that's worth considering? I'm talking he same beach without the Trump type mentaity.
Jgolibersuch@verizon.net
July 11, 2017
Coming up on our 50th wedding anniversary, honeymoon at the glorious Nassau Beach Hotel. Gone. Are you kidding me. Is there anything worthwhile on premises now that's worth considering? I'm talking he same beach without the Trump type mentaity.
Jgolibersuch@verizon.net
I'm devasted. We spent our honeymoon here in May of 1968. We will be married 50 years in 2018 and wanted to return. Didn't see mention of the fact that the Beatles help movie scene was in their pool. So many happy memories. Sad!
This makes me very sad. My family spent many, many vacations at The Nassau Beach Hotel. I have so many memories of eating at the HoJo Restaurant there, renting speedboats with my Dad, and learning how to dive in the swimming pool with my uncle. I just looked it up on a whim and am just now learning this news. Very sad.
I was saddened to hear this news a few years ago. We, too, honeymooned at the Nassau Beach Hotel in August 1971. We just had our 47th anniversary, but sadly won't be able to reminisce there. The mega-hotels hold no interest for us. I'm digitizing our Honeymoon album and loving our pictures there. I'm searching for some of the names of places we visited as I have forgotten over time. Please add us to the number who will forever miss this hotel and all the memories that it helped to make over the years. Linda & Jim
We honeymooned at Nassau Beach Hotel June 1970. We returned 4 years later at a convention. So sad to learn it’s gone.
Rum Keg Lounge.
Ronnie Butler.
I fondly remember the hotel as I was there in 1961 visiting with my brother for first time he was 18 yrs..remember easily going from pop into beach rinsing our feet in small hut and how marvelously clear water was.seeing far into the darker deeps...and remembering dance lessons and the friendliness of the staff..I'll always treasure those memories..sad to hear it's gone.
pop should be pool...sorry error in spelling...wish I still had old postcards from the hotel.
Great memories as a child at NBH. Went every Easter. I learned to swim there. I also remember the Prince Charles visit there in '73. It was a royal event. My last visit to NBH was in 2005. Unfortunately, many of the rooms smelled musky and dank because of flooding damage due to Hurricane Frances in 2004. I'm reading the many memories that people are sharing about their experience there and struck me with a deep melancholy of that shared wonderful space in time.
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