Porhászka László: The Danube Promenade - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)

Hotel Forum. The low marble plinth, designed by József Finta, is decorated with waves in allusion to the river flowing nearby. The inscription carved into the paving by the plinth reads: Pátzay Pál 1937.

In the early 1990s, a red London double decker was installed in the north of Petőfi tér, near the car park of the Hotel Duna Inter-Continental. The partially converted interior of the bus and the tables set up around it were used as a coffee-and-sandwich shop, but the establishment attracted little attention. Foreign visitors were not looking for an ambience characteristic of London here and the local public also showed moderate enthusiasm about the bar in the bus. The English double decker proved to be unsuccessful as a café in Budapest. By the mid-nineties it had permanently disappeared from the promenade, where it had never quite blended into its environment.

Among the reconstruction work related to the promenade, the 1995 renewal of the tram line had a prominent place. During the reconstruction, which due to safety considerations could not be delayed, the original steel structure was retained but a new bedding was placed beneath the lines. The pillars supporting the overhead contact wires were reconstructed, too. The lower embankment received historically authentic but functionally modern street lamps. The switch huts belonging to the tram lines owned by BKV (Budapest Transport Authority) were also restored to their earlier appearance. The viaduct and the storage space underneath had regained their original, early twentieth century form by late September 1995. (BKV runs an occasional nostalgia service on the No. 2 line, with restored old-fashioned cars.)

The most significant change in ownership occurred when the two major hotels on the promenade were privatised. The Intercontinental was bought by the Marriott chain together with another foreign investor. The new owners had the hotel renewed for a considerable sum, after which it reopened on 3 April 1994 under the new name of Hotel Marriott with 362 rooms and twenty suites. On its terrace overlooking the Danube and connected to the promenade, a beer hall, operating from spring to autumn, has been opened, while the coffee shop in the foyer features soft piano music, the sounds of which provide a pleasant backdrop to an evening téte-a-téte.

The other great hotel on the promenade, the Forum, has been operated as a franchise of the global chain Inter53