here. - Strathmore Hotels

Recent History
In 1991 Strathmore Hotels a young Scottish company, founded by Managing Director
Ronnie Rickard and Operations Director Lawrence Cormack purchased the Salutation from
the Jarvis group.
With their combined years of experience in the hotel industry, they have invested in and
restored the Sally into
into one of Perth’s leading hotels.
In 1997 the number of guest rooms was increased to 84, by transforming old office space and
this marked the start of two decades of ongoing refurbishments.
Moncrieffee Suite underwent a total
In 2001 the passenger lift was installed, in 2006 the Moncrieff
Transformation, a six figure sum was spent in creating a state of the art conference room,
dinner dance
dance and wedding venue. The many pictures on the suite walls of “O
“Old Perth”
are well worth viewing.
The
The venue is ever populat with locals
locals for dinners and the “Sally” is known and well
attended for its Festive Party Nights.
Recent other refurbishments included two fully accessible rooms for disabled guests.
Salutation Hotel
Perth
From 1699
A history of the oldest established
Hotel in Scotland ...
The Salutation is still a much loved part of Perth, which recently regained its status as a city.
The hotel’s guests and visitors,
visitors, in the modern era, are from all over the world, but over the
years many people have met and will continue to meet at the Salutation
Salutation and the name was
very well chosen …..we look forward to the next 300 years .
Salutation Hotel
34 South Street, Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, PH2 8PH
Tel 01738 630066 Web strathmorehotels.com
(History collated
collated and printed 2012 )
There are two competing theories as to where the name
Salutation derives from…
The first is said to refer to the date of Greyfriars, that
name was a celebration of the birth of the infant
Jesus, in the village of Bethlehem by
“Wise men of the East who came to worship”
The second view is that the name comes from the meeting of
John Burt (the proprietor) and the
shaking hands between himself and
Bonnie Prince Charlie
The Early Days
In the early 1600’s the Salutation Hotel was a private house, owned by the Murray family,
(Also known as Lord Scone
Scone and Viscount Stormont). From 1699, when we know the building
served as a coaching inn until 1745, the history of the Salutation
Salutation is vague.
It has been thought that it may have been managed by the Franciscan Order, otherwise
known as the Greyfriars, It is least likely that it was within their grounds.
The Salutation formerly known as Salutation Inn has become the oldest established
established hotel in
Scotland as well as one of Perth’s unofficial landmarks.
Bonnie Prince Charlie
In 1745 , Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie
(Bonnie Prince Charlie) landed on the coast of Western
Scotland. He soon had a strong following in his quest. On his march to invade England, he
stopped at many towns and cities, raising funds for the cause, it is alleged he demanded £500
from Perth. It is said
said he did not sleep during his visit, but held meetings with his commanders.
It is also said that Room 20 on the first floor was used to make plans for his rebellion.
This was also to be noted at the trial of Colonel Bower of Forfarshire.
Room 20 is now known
known as “The Stuart Room “ and can be hired as a meeting room.
The façade of the Salutation
is enhanced by the two
figures of pipers
The Robert Reid designed
window in the Adam
Restaurant is a famous
sight in Perth
20th Century
The hotel continued to be a busy hotel both for accommodation and ballroom dance venue.
In the 1960’s David
David Bowie appeared on his first UK solo tour in the Moncrieffe Suite.
The hotel also changed ownership many times during the second
second half of the 20th Century the
now defunct Allied Hotels owned the Salutation and actually based their head office in the
hotel to run their chain of hotels. Another famous hotel chain Embassy Hotels then
pur
purchased the Salutation and also Jarvis hotels were another owner.
The Adam Restaurant on the first floor is the main dining room and became a regular venue
for local clubs, organisations for private dinners as well as a traditional “High Tea” venue.
1800’s
The hotel remained an important stopping off point, for those using the main coach route for
Glasgow and Edinburgh to Inverness and Aberdeen.
At the front of the hotel, the large wooden
wooden door (now the modern day, goods/trades entrance)
would have been the entrance for coach and horse.
The façade of the main entrance
entrance was actually constructed in the 1800’s. The large Victorian
style window and pillars were designed by Robert Reid, the then
then King’s architect for Scotland.
Underneath “Reid’s Bar”are the remains of what used to be ovens or kilns.
Up on the third floor by Room 327 there is an original wooden beam dating from circa the
1840’s. In 1824 the Salutation Inn held the first dinner of the Royal Perth Golfing Society.
The history of the “Sally” as it is affectionately known locally is scant between 1840 and the
1900’s, The ballroom, known nowadays as the “Moncrieffe Suite”, was formerly known as the
Salutation Assembly rooms between the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth
century. Competing favourably with the Theatre Royal that used to stand on Atholl Street. It
is recorded that one concert given by the English Chapel Choir (accompanied by the band of
the Durham Light Infantry)
Infantry) left the Theatre Royal “deserted”. The ballroom was well known
locally for its dancing.
During the disco era of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the hotel ballroom became the
“Blue Web” and was the place to be in
in Perth on a Saturday night.
The hotel has decades of history catering for local societies including the one of the largest
Burns Clubs in Scotland, The Perth Burns Club and also the Black Watch and the Perth and
District Accordion and Fiddle Club.
Club.