St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

The guest in Room 506

The best-known story is of a guest who died in his sleep in Room 506. Since then, guests are said to have woken to find a man standing at the foot of the bed.

Ladies, a girl and a poet

Ghost guides also describe a lady in Victorian dress and a young girl in the corridors, along with doors that open and close by themselves. Some say Sir John Betjeman, whose campaign saved the building from demolition, has been seen walking the halls with a book.

These accounts come from recent guides, and we haven't found older first-hand reports yet. If you've stayed here and noticed something, let us know.

The Midland Grand Hotel was designed by George Gilbert Scott as the frontage of the Midland Railway's new London terminus. It opened in stages from 1873 and was completed in 1876, with a grand staircase, gold-leaf ceilings and some of the first lifts in London. It was expensive to run and closed as a hotel in 1935, becoming railway offices.

In the 1960s it was threatened with demolition. A campaign led by the poet John Betjeman helped save it, and it was listed at Grade I. After decades of decline it was restored and reopened as the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in 2011. The Spice Girls filmed the video for Wannabe on its staircase in 1996.

• The hotel is part of St Pancras International, with Eurostar trains departing beneath it.
• The bar and restaurant in the old booking office are open to everyone, and the hotel runs tours of the building.