In 1906, construction started on the Little Bonnington Hotel in central London, England. The hotel, located in Great Russell Street, close to the British Museum, opened in 1908 and was an immediate success. It soon became too small to cope with the increasing number of travellers wanting lodging and as the existing site in Great Russell Street could not be expanded, a new site, 88-98 Southampton Row, was purchased. Construction started immediately and the Bonnington in Bloomsbury finally opened in 1911. The Bonnington in Bloomsbury was constructed in Free Renaissance style and was the first hotel in London to be built around a steel frame structure. To this day, the building is considered one of the finest examples of Edwardian architecture in the United Kingdom.The hotel was officially opened by Lord Strathcona on 22nd April 1911. In 1999, the McGettigan family acquired the Bonnington Hotel and a majority shareholding in the Bonnington Group. One of Ireland's oldest and most respected hotelier families, the Mcgettigans built on their long tradition of successful hospitality and real estate operations in Ireland and set about considerably expanding the Bonnington Group's activities both in the United Kingdom as well as abroad. The Cavendish Hotel in Eastbourne was acquired shortly afterwards and, after undergoing an extensive refurbishment, is now one of Eastbourne's finest seaside properties. Following the acquisition of the Cavendish Hotel, the Group secured the Gillette Corner site in West London in 2005. Following Gillette's departure from the site in 2007, the Bonnington Group has been working on redeveloping the listed building into a hotel, which will form the heart of an integrated business community. 2009 saw the successful opening of the Group's first overseas property, the stunning Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers-a 480 keys hotel and hotel apartments property in Dubai, UAE.
