The legendary Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) Hotel at Puri is set to regain its cult status yet again, thanks to the efforts of the Delhi-based Sujata Hotels Group which has painstakingly renovated this property and restored its lost splendor by positioning it as a Railway theme hotel.
Set up in 1902, a year after the introduction of the Calcutta-Puri train service by the erstwhile Bengal Nagpur Railway (now South-Eastern Railway), this heritage hotel was a delightful sojourn for towering personalities like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, celebrated economist and US ambassador to India J K Galbraith, former Orissa chief minister Biju Patnaik, filmmaker Satyajit Ray and music director S D Burman.
However, the adulation which this hotel had earned in its hey days only proved to be short lived as the hotel was caught in a time warp and rendered decrepit due to decades of neglect.
In mid 2008, the famed BNR Hotel got a fresh lease of life when the Sujata Hotels Group decided to refurbish it so that the hotel can get back its glory of the days of yore. The renovation work spanned 18 months and the historic hotel has now been christened Chanakya BNR Hotel.
“When I visited the BNR hotel in March 2008, I immediately took a liking to it. The experience in renovating and restoring this heritage project has been very challenging. Our company had set some aggressive deadlines and goals for this property's renovation”, said Akhil Kochhar, vice president (development), Sujata Hotels Group.Besides, the 37 sea facing rooms of the hotel have thematic Railway names which take the room occupants on a journey to the glorious days of the Railways.
