Granada Studios Staff Bar, Great John Street

Great John Street Hotel, formerly Granada Studios Staff Bar. (c) googlemaps.

Now a trendy 5-star hotel called the Great John Street Hotel, this place was originally a Victorian School House. When the neighbouring Granada Studios was in its prime - it's half-empty, shabby state suggests otherwise these days - this building was the Granada Staff Bar. Its proximity to the huge brown monolith with its famous red signage is evident in the below snap.

Great John Street Hotel, formerly Granada Studios Staff Bar. (c) googlemaps.

This is from an article on "Granadaland" on David Nolan's MySpace page:

"The first day I started at Granada I went to the Granada staff bar at lunchtime. Little was to change on that front as far as I was concerned for the next 13 years. At the bar (now the swanky Great John Street Hotel) I saw and heard old hands at the TV game. These grizzled veterans warned me that telly was all shit now (this was 1995) and that it wasn't a patch on their day. I always vowed I'd never turn into one of those guys; that I would look to the future not harp on about the past."

The bar in the hotel gives an indication as to what it might have been like to have a dinner time pint or three in here during a break from filming, researching or whatever else the Granada employees used to get up to during its heyday.

Great John Street Hotel bar. (c) laterooms.