Peter

The Goring | 55y

Peter grew up in Paddington. His first job was as a messenger boy for a newspaper on Fleet Street before going into the building trade and then into the merchant navy. During this time, one of his roles involved transporting the Ten Pound Poms down to Australia through the Suez Canal, past India, Sri Lanka, and eventually into Sydney. After this he became a short order cook in Marylebone for six months before his first hotel job around Bayswater Road working as a luggage porter. After a while his older and younger brothers both joined him there. At some point his younger brother left and found work at The Goring as a doorman, but after three months had had enough and offered Peter the job. He leapt at the opportunity as it paid a lot more, and so joined The Goring team in 1965. 

He’s worked for three generations of the Goring family over the years and thinks the world of them. The current CEO took the helm in 2005. “If Mr. Jeremy Goring appears half as good as his dad, that’d be great, I thought. And he is.”

The hotel itself hasn’t changed a lot, he tells me, but the people have. Visitors used to come smartly dressed but now things are a lot more casual, and he no longer reminds people of a dress code: “Some guests come in wearing ripped jeans and are staying there, and are probably richer than most people!” He feels the world’s a lot more inclusive now: “Even I can afford to eat in our restaurant and have been three times now. Alright, that’s two weeks’ pension used up but it’s worth it!”

“Talking to people is certainly the best part of the job”, he tells me. “I’ve met countless MPs, royalty, film stars, musicians…” He comes to work because he still enjoys it immensely and says the bosses have always looked after him more than necessary. There was a celebratory event to mark his length of service a few years ago, and a bespoke meal was put on for Peter and the rest of the staff.

The hotel has an abundance of repeat guests and diners, and he often sees the same faces pass through the doorway he’s guarded for over half a century. Frequently he hears from other team members that a guest who hadn’t been for a few years was asking after him and checking he was still there.

He tells me a story of a very famous actress who used to stay at The Savoy but was sent to The Goring when it was booked up. After that she made The Goring her regular base and used to ask Peter to find her a taxi in which she could smoke. He, of course, always obliged. One evening before going to a premiere, she asked if he’d take her to the pub on the corner and they sat outside having a drink. A star-struck passer-by asked her for an autograph and she insisted he sit down and join them!

When I first meet Peter on the steps of the famous hotel, he’s joking with and teasing his fellow doorman: “I’m very lucky - the people I work with here are just fantastic. They call me granddad, I accept it. I can’t ask for more really…”