The Ritz Hotel, London 300 people were evacuated to the nearby May Fair Hotel following a fire alarm in the hotel. No one was hurt in the blaze, which started in the basement casino kitchen's extraction vents. The Ritz casino only suffered "minor damage". Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was convalescing at the Ritz when she died following a stroke on 8 April 2013. There has been criticism because the Ritz has not paid any corporation tax since being taken over by the Barclay twins. The accounts indicate that the profitable hotel uses a series of tax reliefs to reduce its corporation tax
The Ritz Hotel, London "Laurie's Bar", closed when Ross retired in 1976. By the 1970s the basement rooms were closed to the public. In 1977, Trafalgar House agreed to lease the basement to Mecca Sportsman and Pleasurama, and the Ritz Club was opened the following year, under separate management from the hotel. The basement was restored in the hotel's Louis XVI style of 1906, and the decorations included 6,000 sheets of gold leaf. Gold leaf was not spared on moldings, cupids and garlands and a blue sky with fluffy clouds painted on the ceiling above the gaming tables. The restoration consisted of repainting, cleaning