The Britannia Grill Story

[Michael Gallagher]

1990 Refit

A fifth main restaurant / third Grill Room, the Princess Grill II, was constructed in space formerly occupied by a Columbia Restaurant annexe on the starboard side of Quarter Deck directly opposite the existing Princess Grill. This was the fourth First-Class restaurant on board.

A new staircase entrance to the Grill was built leading down from a new lounge built on Upper deck above.

According to Cunard:

   “There is a demand for the extra First-Class dining room and it will be assigned to specific cabins as usual. At a stroke the number of passengers who can experience the style of the ship’s most popular dining room [the original Princess Grill] has been doubled without affecting the original at all”.

The Grill   

Princess Grill II could accommodate 106 diners and was designed to be very similar in size, standard and atmosphere as the original Princess Grill on the port side.

The new Grill was decorated in an Art Deco, yet modern, style with pinks, mauves and purples. New tub chairs, polished in a blue / black satin lacquer finish and upholstered in a modern Spanish ‘random’ fabric of gold and bronze, were installed.

Cocktail Lounge   

A new 44-seat Cocktail Lounge and Bar was constructed on Upper Deck above the new Grill in space that had been the starboard annexe and entrance area to the Mauretania Restaurant.

The new Princess Grill II Lounge was for the exclusive use of the diners of the new Grill below and was decorated in a similar style as the Grill with pinks, mauves and purples.

The new Grill would be available for passengers to book from April 1991. The re-grading of certain cabins resulted in the introduction of D1 and D2 grade cabins and passengers in these two grades could select which Princess Grill they wished to dine in at the time of booking.

[Michael Gallagher]

1991

The implications and confusion resulting from designating the Princess Grill I and II soon became apparent to Cunard:

•   Despite the fact that those who booked a D grade (D1 or D2) cabin had the choice of which Princess Grill they could dine in, many of those booked in D1 grade thought they would be assigned to Princess Grill I while many of those in D2 grade thought their restaurant was automatically Princess Grill II.

•   It was thought that the designation I and II implied that the original Grill (I) was better than the new one. This could have resulted in a negative effect on bookings for Columbia Restaurant cabins if passengers thought there were three levels of restaurant above them instead of two.

In 1991 the two Grills had their names amended:

   Princess Grill I became Princess Grill Port

   Princess Grill II became Princess Grill Starboard

All signage on board was changed to reflect the ‘new’ names and all brochures from 1992 included this change.

[Michael Gallagher]

1994 Project Lifestyle

New Britannia Grill

The Princess Grill Starboard was renamed Britannia Grill after Cunard's first vessel. (Other naming suggestions included: Windsor, Countess, Presidents or Verandah Grill). A model of Britannia (in a glass case) was positioned at the entrance and a painting of Britannia was hung inside the room. The spiral stairway had its walls redone with American cherry timber and received a new green carpet (matching that found in the Princess Grill).

[Michael Gallagher]

1996 Refit

The Britannia Grill was redecorated to reflect a more 'clubby’ atmosphere: a new colour scheme of mole greens and russets; a new blue carpet and brand new high-backed wooden chairs were fitted while the banquette seating was re-upholstered to match the new carpet. A large painting of Britannia (1840) was installed to act as a centrepiece.

[Michael Gallagher]

1999 Refit

The Grill was refurbished in a principal colour scheme of purple. Further enhancements included new Axminster carpeting throughout (including the stairway entrance leading down from Upper deck), curtains and blinds. The existing chairs and banquettes were recovered in dark purple and an area of banquette seating near the entrance was removed and alterations to the table layout made to provide greater comfort for diners.

[Michael Gallagher]

2004 Refit

A new wall covering was laid on the both the forward and aft bulkheads and a small percentage of Dampa ceiling was replaced and re-painted electro- statically. In addition new air-conditioning deflectors were fitted.

[Michael Gallagher]

2006 Refit

The Grill received a new carpet of the same design as the displaced one and the furniture was re-upholstered.

[Michael Gallagher]

And how my favourite QE2 restaurant looked in 2008

[Thomas Hypher]

Sad to think it's now the staff recreation area in Dubai 

[Rob Lightbody]

In 2007, on my first return to the ship for 20 years (woops!) we were in Britannia Grill, in the far back left corner viewed from Michael's photos.  The colour scheme and atmosphere instantly won me over, as did the view out of the windows from pretty much every seat in the restaurant - try that on QM2...

Michael's notes highlight the quality of materials and care that was used selecting them, and I think its this that Dubai has missed in the refit.  I learned from visiting her in 2011, that a lot of running a hotel is in "dressing" the room perfectly - carpets, wall coverings, curtains, lights and lighting, furniture, cutlery and glasses even - it all comes together to create that space.

Thanks so much for sharing the BG story !