A SON has paid tribute to his father who was one of Bolton’s most prominent hoteliers in the 1960s and 70s.

Richard Glass, who died earlier this month aged 83 from a stroke, managed the Swan Hotel, in Churchgate in Bolton town centre as well as the well-known Crest Motel, which is now the Britannia Hotel, in Beaumont Road.

Mr Glass, who attended the prestigious Westminster College Hospitality Training School, spent a year working in Paris where he once served afternoon tea to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor — the former king of England, Edward VIII, and his wife, Wallis Simpson.

He moved to Bolton with his wife Margaret and sons Nick and Jeremy in 1964 and became the manager of the Swan Hotel, which is still a pub today.

He later took charge of the newly-opened Crest Motel and featured in various news articles of the time as the first manager of the high profile business.

Mr Glass managed the Carlton in Blackpool and eventually bought his own hotel in 1977 following the death of his first wife.

His son, Nick Glass, aged 57, decided to stay in Bolton and lives in Bromley Cross, working as an IT consultant.

He said: “Working in the hotels in Bolton meant that dad knew a whole host of people. He made many good contacts along the way and knew all the other hoteliers in the nearby areas.

“There wasn’t one person that he couldn’t talk to or try to help in some way.

“My father was a very fair man and was really generous and supportive of his family and friends.

Nick added that as a hotel manager, his father would meet people from all walks of life and had “no airs and graces”.

He added: “He was a man who served the former king of England but would also stop and talk to a beggar and give them money.”

Mr Glass left the hotel industry and moved on to work as a drilling engineer and then a gardener before he died surrounded by his family earlier this month.

His funeral service at Overdale Crematorium, Bolton, on Tuesday was followed by a reception at the Britannia Hotel.

He leaves a wife, Josie Glass, and son Nick. His other son, Jeremy, died at the young age of 26.

The family say donations in Mr Glass’s memory can be made to Cancer Research UK at justgiving.com/Richard-M-Glass.