THE Royal York Hotel is being rechristened. Under its new name, it is no longer Royal or York, although it will remain a hotel. A Le Mridien hotel, to be precise, part of the global chain established in Paris by Air France 30 years ago.

John Shannon, former chairman of the York Civic Trust, reacted to the change with dismay last week. "We are great traditionalists and loyalists in York," he said. "I'm sorry the hotel is changing its identity."

Many share his disappointment that such a high profile organisation, which boasts York in its title, should move to a continental brand name. But the fact that the Mridien group is planning to invest £5 million in the hotel softens the blow a little.

The fact is, York's hotels are always swapping their names. It is hard to keep up.

For example, if you ask a taxi driver to take you to the Holiday Inn, you might find yourself at the main hotel in Tadcaster Road, formerly the Forte Posthouse, formerly just the Post House, or the two Holiday Inn Expresses, one based at Shipton Road, the other on Malton Road at the Stockton on the Forest Inn, itself formerly the Hopgrove.

And that's just one of them.

The main Holiday Inn was purpose-built as a hotel in 1971, on a site occupied by Dringhouses Manor. The manor was demolished to make way for the 104-room Post House.

Many of York's older hotels were built for a different purpose, then converted. What became the Marriott Hotel started out as a private house, The Hollies.

This was the home of Major Close, of the Steel Forge Works on Leeman Road. He previously lived in a house where the Royal York Hotel (sorry, Le Mridien) now stands. The railway company which built that hotel also built The Hollies for Major Close, in exchange for his city centre residence.

The Hollies became a hotel in 1928, when Harker's Hotel moved there from St Helen's Square. Two storeys were added.

The name was changed to The Chase after the Second World War, and a distinctive sign, in the form of a large saddle, was placed on the lawn in front of the hotel.

The location, next to the racecourse, meant that many racehorse owners, trainers and jockeys have stayed at The Chase. BBC commentator Raymond Glendenning also roomed there in the Sixties, a decade which also saw a new wing added.

At that time it was owned by Morris Hotels. When it was sold to the Swallow Group in 1987, it became the Swallow Chase. The Swallow was changed to the Marriott last year.

Another hotel to begin life with an entirely different purpose is The Grange at Clifton. Built in the 19th century as a town house by the rector of St Michael le Belfry Church, it later became a council hostel before being transformed into a luxury hotel.

One of the Grange's luxury hotel rivals is Middlethorpe Hall. It opened in 1984, but its history goes much further back.

The magnificent, Queen Anne mansion was built in 1698 for the Barlow family, who stayed there until the first half of the 19th century. It then changed hands many times, and was once the residence of the diarist Lady Mary Wortley Montague. Among her pithy observations was the fact that "men are vile inconstant toads"; and that "civility costs nothing and buys everything".

Later Middlethorpe Hall was home to the Terrys, handy as it was for their nearby factory. It later fell into disrepair, but became a nightclub, Brummels, in the Seventies.

For sheer city centre convenience, it is hard to beat the Dean Court Hotel, which is yards from York Minster, the Theatre Royal and McDonald's.

Considering its closeness to the great church, it should come as no surprise to learn that the main body of the hotel, numbers 1-3 Duncombe Place, was built to provide three homes for the clergy in about 1850.

Shortly after the Great War, the central and largest of these houses was bought by the Thwaites family and turned into a Thwaites Hotel. The remaining two houses, plus an adjoining Georgian house in High Petergate, were acquired later.

In the Sixties, a semi-basement room used as a shelter in the Second World War was converted into a hotel bar.

The main hotel was joined up to a block of medieval cottages in a complicated restoration in 1978. So you can walk through centuries of history in just a few steps at the Dean Court.

Not far from that hotel is the Judges' Lodgings. Its name dates from its time as the accommodation for the judges presiding over the Assize Courts.

But it was originally built in about 1720 as a townhouse for Dr Clifton Wintringham, on the graveyard of the demolished St Wilfrid's Church.

His son Clifton Wintringham Junior, inherited it. He became physician general to the Army in the Austrian war of succession, was appointed physician to King George III, was knighted in 1762 and later received a baronetcy. It was bought by the local authority in 1806 and made available to the judges.

We should end this tour of York's hotel heritage where we began, at the Royal York: or, as it was initially known, the Station Hotel.

This name originally belonged to a hotel built onto York's first station in 1853; "Royal" was added after Queen Victoria took lunch there on her way to Balmoral.

When the new station was opened in 1877, a new hotel followed the following year. The first Royal Station Hotel was converted into offices.

Its replacement was a much grander affair, with a 100-yard corridor extending east to west along the ground floor, and 100 bedrooms.

Legend has it that the local race horse trainers used to make their jockeys run up and down it to lose weight.

"While the lads puffed backwards and forwards, the trainers would retire to comfortable chairs in the bar with glasses of brandy," the official history of the hotel relates.

Updated: 11:11 Monday, February 18, 2002