The Nedous and Lawrence of Arabia

LAHORE - Not many are aware any longer that the present Avari Hotel in Lahore stands on the site of a magnificent hotel, the Nido’s, built at the turn of the last century by Harry Nedous, an Austro-Swiss hotelier. The Nedous family had arrived in India at the turn of the last century and invested their savings in this hotel - later there were hotels in Srinagar and Poona.

Harry Nedous was the businessman; his brothers, Willy and Wally did not participate much in the enterprise; his sister, Enid, took charge of the catering and her pâtisserie at the hotel was considered ‘as good as anything in Europe’.

By the early 1950s, it ceased to be Nido’s hotel, as it was converted into an office of West Pakistan Public Relations Department. Later, in the late fiftees, it came to be known as Park Luxury hotel when a new structure was erected in its place by demolishing the original one. After over a decade, Park Luxury hotel was also demolished and a new structure (Present Avari) was put in its place, but then it was named as Hilton Hotel. In the early 1970s its nomenclature was changed to Avari Hotel, when Behram D Avari took charge of its management.

The Nedous family, which laid foundation of the Nido’s Hotel (present Avari) in Lahore, also made its mark on the history of Indo-Pakistan.