Due to the Christchurch City Council lifting the orange zone 4 south cordon to the public on Friday 18 March 2011, The George is excited to announce it will officially reopen the hotel a week before it anticipated.

On Tuesday 22 March 2011 the hotel will open to accommodate in-house guests. Following this, on Wednesday 23 March, the hotel conference rooms will be available for meetings and 50 On Park Restaurant and Bar will reopen for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Signature restaurant, Pescatore will reopen for dinner a week later on Tuesday 29 March. Any guests accessing the hotel should do so via Rolleston Avenue to Park Terrace and then enter our car park on the corner of Peterborough Street. For ongoing updates on access or other details please check the home page of our website www.thegeorge.com.

We would like to assure you that the hotel is in very good shape. So much so that it was issued with a green sticker by engineers in the very early days after the quake, meaning that the building has always been safe to enter. Nonetheless, as our building was designated within a red zone cordon there was no way for guests to access the hotel.

During this period we have been able to help the recovery effort in Christchurch by accommodating city care workers, nurses and police, who have all been integral in getting Christchurch back on track. This was only possible due to the dedication of our team who made themselves available to clean up after the quake and to make the hotel habitable for the recovery teams.

The George would like to personally acknowledge the heartfelt messages of support that it has received over the last few weeks many from guests via the George Bear Blog site www.georgebearblog.com. It is truly touching for us to receive so many kind thoughts from all over the world.

While the events of late have been difficult to say the least, the display of great kindness, outstanding feats of bravery, overwhelming generosity and compassion has been incredible and shows the capacity of people to work together in the toughest times. Although our team here are happy to returning to work our hearts and thoughts are still very much with those who have lost loved ones, homes and jobs.

Even though is undeniable that there is still much work to be done in the centre of Christchurch and some suburbs, The George is considerably fortunate in its location and we very much look forward to hosting guests in the coming weeks.

For more information: www.thegeorge.com