Sliema, today a leading player in our hospitality industry, was one of Malta’s last conurbations to stake any claims to that distinction. Sparsely inhabited in the beginning of the 19th century, its pleasant harbour and Mediterranean waterfronts then caught the fancy of British officials and their families, followed closely by those locals whose ambition was to persuade others they were aping the colonial overlords as faithfully as possible.

Hotel Tigné Court, Qui-si-Sana, by the ABC Library

Hotel Midas, Tigné Street, by Promotion Services Ltd

The Sliema area became attractive, and hotels and lodging houses started cropping up.

The imposing, purpose-built Imperial Hotel and, later, the New Imperial Hotel run by the Ellul family, figure as the jewels in the crown, described as “large number of rooms, elegant furnishing and excellent service.

The Imperial Hotel, Rudolphe Street, by David Moore

The new hotel is worthy of any first-class city”. Visiting royalty, like Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Archduchess Gisela, daughter of the Emperor of Austria, who became his wife aged 16, stayed there in 1875.

The Plevna Hotel, in Hughes Hallet Street

The Windsor Hotel in Windsor Terrace, by Island Motoring Ltd

Europa Hotel, Tower Road, by Promotion Services Ltd

The Alexandra Hotel, on the Marina waterfront, and the Prince of Wales Hotel in Tower Road, offered some competition. Slightly later, the Savoy Hotel, in Rue d’Argens. More modest lodging houses also sprouted – the Mount Eagle Lodge in Għar id-Dud Street, Jevons Lodgings near Tigné and Luigi Pollacco’s Lodgings in High Street. We are here talking 19th and early 20th century Sliema.

The Marina Hotel, Tigné Sea Front, by AGM

We owe a first in-depth study of the hospitality industry in Malta and in Sliema to Gużè Cassar Pullicino. Little could he conceive how drastically the scene would alter. Lower-budget mass tourism since Independence drove hotel capacity to multiply exponentially. 

The Preluna Hotel, the first skyscraper in Malta, in Tower Road

I am here reproducing a few of the advertising cards for hotels in the Sliema area issued by leading late 20th century postcard publishers, like Cathedral Library, Perfecta, ABC Library, David Moore, Promotion Services and Vulcan.

The Park Hotel, Graham Street, by David Moore

All postcards from the author’s collection

Promenade Hotel, Tower Road, by Ivan Camilleri

The Soleado Guest House, Għar id-Dud Street, by Vulcan Advertising

Hotel Fortina, Tigné Sea Front by Giov. Muscat – Herald