ARGUABLY Brighton and Hove’s most well-known hotel, The Grand has a rich history that most locals are familiar with.

Designed in Italian style by John Whichcord Jr, The Grand Hotel was built between 1862 and 1864 at a cost of about £100,000 on the site of the houses of Artillery Place.

The large picture box above shows a vintage Bentley outside the hotel along with former head doorman, John Spencer, in 1986.

This is undoubtedly one of the many luxury cars that would have been spotted pulling up outside the hotel over the years.

When it first opened in July 1864, it was by far the largest hotel in Brighton with over 150 bedrooms.

With eight storeys, it was also one of the tallest buildings in the city.

A huge number of journalists attended the opening ceremony, who were particularly interested in the five lifts which were referred to at the time as an "ascending omnibus".

The hotel belonged to the De Vere Group beginning in the 1990s, which undertook a multimillion-pound refurbishment of the hotel.

Some of the work undertaken during the refurbishment can be seen above, before it was eventually completed in 2013. The hotel's new spa opened during the same year.

Many know the hotel for when it was bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the early hours of October 12, 1984 in an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the Conservative Party Conference.

The bomb had been hidden three weeks earlier behind the bath panel of room 629.

Staff can be seen pictured above standing on one of the hotel's balconies.

Do you recognise any of them or did you ever see former first bell girl Tracy Henley?