Over 1,200 guests attended this year’s highly prestigious Centenary Luncheon at Grosvenor House on Park Lane in London on 27 June.

Addressing guests at the luncheon, which celebrated 100 years of the association’s work, chief executive Bob Cotton warned the government to “keep its hands off” the hospitality industry.

On the same afternoon as Tony Blair stepped down as Prime Minister and Gordon Brown prepared to take over the reigns of power, Bob Cotton said the government needed to “stop regulating”, highlighting the withdrawal of the Hotel Buildings Allowance as a major deterrent of investment.

The campaign to tackle to Hotel Buildings Allowance looks set to take precedence as the leading issue in the future work of the BHA, in much the same way as last year’s successful campaign to oppose the bed tax.

Derek Taylor OBE, co-author of the BHA’s special Centenary publication Hospitality: A Portrait introduced Sir Rocco Forte and BHA president Sir David Michels, both of whom profiled the lives of the entrepreneurial hoteliers Sir Maxwell Joseph and Lord Charles Forte, whose careers and companies defined the past 100 years of hospitality in the UK.

The BHA e-zine will be taking a break for the summer, and will be back bigger, brighter and better than ever in September 2007.