The West End Front

Published: 2012
Author: Matthew Sweet

Wonderfully researched but not coherent enough

Over the past few weeks I’ve been utterly enchanted by Richard E. Grant’s Hotel Secrets on Sky and that’s almost entirely down to Grant himself. He’s bonkers, totally, utterly and wonderfully bonkers and has educated me in the ways of posh hotels around the world. Was I the last person alive to know that asking for an extra pillow meant send a prostitute? Sometimes I like more pillows… It turns out that hotels are absolutely fascinating places. Matthew Sweet’s book The West End Front tells the true story of London’s high-end hotels during World War II.

Many of the “real-life” histories of the Second World War that have been published over the past few years have focused on the experiences of the poor but plucky working classes. We’ve seen how the war at home impacted on those on low incomes, on the women and children left behind and on the brave boys sent to the front. The West End Front takes us on a tour of some of London’s most prestigious hotels, visiting the Dorchester, the Ritz, Claridge’s and the Savoy among others and followed the stories of those who lived and worked there.

All life – high and low – is covered in this book. From spies and Cabinet Ministers being indiscreet with state secrets to striking communists and demonstrators insisting that they too get to shelter in concrete lined basements this is a book filled with fascinating anecdotes. You get the impression that Sweet has had the time of his life researching The West End Front, particularly interviewing the few survivors who could offer first hand testimony of the events of the 30s and 40s. This has much of the gossipy feel of Grant’s television programme and draws the reader in to the stories.

My one major problem with West End Front is that once a chapter is finished the narrative contained within that chapter is finished. There appears to be little continuity throughout the book, it is instead a series of self-contained vignettes. I found myself becoming frustrated with the sudden end to each chapter and brand new beginning of each new story. There was no thread which ran throughout the book which became a drag as it went on.

Undoubtedly this is a meticulously researched book full of fascinating anecdotes but unfortunately the lack of coherent narrative leads to a loss of power and I lost all focus and interest about half way through. A disappointing end to a book with so much promise.