Welcome back to an old friend

Many of you will remember the Hotel de France from Contrivance in 1989 and Helicon in 1993. Unfortunately, in 1994, it was badly damaged by fire. A lengthy restoration has produced many changes. The old basement has been turned into a new reception area. There is also a large lounge with comfortable furniture, and, being on the same level as the road, it is now much more accessible. The old basement conference rooms have gone and the Jersey Photographic Museum has moved to a house in the grounds. A sweeping staircase connects reception with the main conference floor.

At the west end of the hotel there are the baroque Golden and Minstrel rooms. Each has a capacity of 120 making them ideal for medium sized program items. Next to them is the Empire room, the third largest room in the hotel. This has a capacity of 400. Across the drive is the 600 seat Lido. The Lido shares the building with the Ciné de France, Madisons nightclub, a fitness centre and on the roof, an outdoor swimming pool. The Ciné is one of the two cinemas on Jersey, the other is the Odeon, which served as the German army headquarters during the occupation in World War II.. We will be trying to get a European premiere of an SF film for the convention. For those who like the softer life, even though Jersey weather is a little warmer than the mainland, there is a heated indoor swimming pool as well.

There are now two restaurants in the hotel. The Gallery Restaurant with its own bar and outdoor terrace has an excellent value table d'hote menu, as well as full a la carte. The steps and wheelchair lift which connected the old part of the hotel with the new Atrium restaurant have now been replaced with a long gentle slope. The Atrium restaurant will be used for breakfast and will have a range of snacks and bar meals during the day. Next door is the Starlight room which will be used for the banquet. The largest bar is now the Library bar. The hotel has promised us beer at local pub prices (currently about £1.50) for the convention.

Andrew Parker, who runs the chocolate shop in the hotel, is hoping that we will break the unbeaten sales record we established at Helicon in 1993.

The hotel now has 320 bedrooms. The older rooms have all been refurbished to a very high standard. They even have an extra phone socket to plug in your computer.