AN apartment which previously housed a hotel restaurant that fed royalty is on the market for £475,000.

The Grand Hotel, in Marine Parade East, Clacton, opened in 1897 during Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee celebrations.

Sales and letting agency Belvoir says the apartment sets a new benchmark for period property grandeur - with a price tag to match.

The two double bedroom apartment, which measures 153sq metres and is in the Edwardian-style, occupies what was once the restaurant of the hotel.

“Apartments like this come along once in a lifetime,” says Tamara Hunt, director of Belvoir Sales and Lettings in Colchester.

“To have so many of the original features remaining and on such a scale is incredibly exciting.

“The royal connections with the building are almost as enticing as the architecture."

Royal guests included King George V, who lunched at the hotel in 1916, and rumoured regular guests, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, otherwise known as Edward Windsor and Wallis Simpson, and the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.

For more information, contact Belvoir Sales and Lettings 01206 364444 or email tamara.hunt@belvoir.co.uk.