The Mountbatten Theatre at No 5 Boutique Hotel

CEO OF Mantis Hotel group, which has recently merged with international goliath ACCOR, has just stepped off a plane from “Parys” as in France rather than the Free State and claims to be “the greatest plagiarist on the planet”. He is definitely the most proactive in that while travelling the globe, he identifies superlative features from extraordinary establishments to incorporate in his own.

The Mountbatten Theatre, at his award winning No 5 Boutique Hotel, in Port Elizabeth, is a haven, at which to binge on Hollywood blockbusters, a red velvet escape when wet weather prevails and a tribute to the foresight of a discerning Anglophile , who travels the world with his “Eyes Wide Open”.

Dynamic Gardiner described an inspirational evening in London, when he was invited by Prince Charles, to a special screening at Clarence House, for His Highness’ documentary on Saving The Albatross, which for an environmentally wired African, come as a welcome distraction, from the more pressing quest of saving the Rhino. Gardiner was impressed less by the fate of the diminishing species and more by the architecture of the Mountbatten Theatre, named after the Queen’s favourite cousin, Lord Mountbatten, also made prematurely extinct at the hand of the IRA.

Thus Gardiner became determined to transport this historic slice of British architecture back to what was once a British colony, Port Elizabeth. He immediately sought permission from the Keeper of Clarence House to ‘plagiarise’ the “Mountbatten Theatre” and to reincarnate it at No 5 Summerstrand, far removed from its namesake in London on the Mall, but still nonetheless on P.E.’s equivalent of the Royal Mile. And here Mountbatten presides on canvas, nodding approval at a legion of British made movies, which shall forever entertain a host of No 5’s appreciative guests, who after decadent dinners invariably adjourn to the royal comfort of this plush theatre to linger longer, feet up, with caramelised popcorn and liqueurs in hand…

Written by Deborah Setchell

Photos: Supplied