I read with interest the report of an increase in bookings at the Queens Hotel in Leeds (The Yorkshire Post, January 29).
I remember walking through the adjoining station each morning, full of the precocious attitude often synonymous with early adolescence on the way to school thinking that the grand old lady had been standing there since time immemorial, not realizing that she only had a few years on me, five I’m now aware of the report.
On one memorable occasion, the return trip through City Square had such a profound influence on me and I still treasure that memory.
Of some notable guests you revealed to have stayed there, Bill Haley’s attendance on Valentine’s Day in 1957 was omitted before his appearance at the city’s Odeon Theater that evening, and only the sixth date of a monumental tour that transitioned into folklore introducing Britain to rock. ‘n’ roll.
The huge crowd outside the hotel almost burst as he waved from a window and stopped traffic, buses and all, captured for posterity with accompanying photos in the Yorkshire Evening Post from that day that I still keep today.
I remember two other visits to Leeds by the artist in 1968 and 1974, unfortunately with much less impact, but nevertheless I can never walk through City Square without speculating who will listen from which window he waved!
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