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Spiers, Felix William Restaurateur and hotelier was born in London, England in 1832, and died in Paris, France in 1911. One of his ancestors moved from Glasgow, Scotland to France in the early 18th century and later family members were born in France and in England. Felix sailed to Melbourne, Australia where he was a wine merchant, having acquired a publicans licence in 1857. He set up in business at George Coppin and Gustavus Brooke’s Theatre Royal, Melbourne with George Henelle, but Henelle was injured in 1859 and replaced by Christopher Pond. Together they formed a partnership, Spiers and Pond, running the Café de Paris at the Theatre Royal, later buying the lease of the Café from Coppin and Brooke. In 1861 they brought to Melbourne the All-England Eleven to play a series of cricket matches. Pond suffered an accident in 1862, and in 1863 they both returned to London, where they were soon running the Holborn Viaduct Hotel at 15 Old Bailey. In 1874 they had built, and owned, the Criterion Theatre and Restaurant in London’s Piccadilly Circus. The partnership became Spiers and Pond (Limited) in 1882, after the death of Pond in 1881. They owned the London and Westminster Supply Association at New Bridge-street, Blackfriars, which supplied their restaurants, their extensive railway refreshment rooms, their many hotels, and the general public. The company went into liquidation in 1916 and was taken into administration by the court until 1918, when it was reorganised to continue as Spiers and Pond (Limited). They owned twelve hotels and a golf course, Bushey Hall. The hotels included, Bailey’s Hotel, Gloucester Road, London, The Grand Hotel, Brighton, The Queen’s Hotel, Eastbourne, The Palace Hotel, Hastings, The Victoria Hotel, Manchester, The Grand Hotel, Scarborough, the Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter, The Bull’s Head Hotel, Aylesbury, & etc,. The company eventually became a part of Grand Metropolitan Hotels’ portfolio.