WORLD leaders and celebrities have sheltered beneath the metal and glass canopy at the entrance to the Randolph Hotel in Oxford.

But the iconic cover in Beaumont Street has now been removed and it is not yet known if it is to return.

It is understood that in the past the canopy was occasionally bumped by taxis or coaches pulling up outside the entrance.

Oxford Mail:

No one from Macdonald hotels which runs the five-star Randolph was available for comment.

But a member of staff said: “Yes the canopy at the entrance has been taken away and we don’t know for sure if it’s coming back.”

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The Grade II-listed hotel was built in 1864 by William Wilkinson, an architect who also designed many other buildings in North Oxford.

Oxford Mail:

It has a simplified Gothic design similar to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Oxford Union buildings.

A £1.5m restoration project for the stonework was due for completion earlier this year.

Oxford Mail:

The best stonemasons in the Cotswolds were brought in to clean and repair the Beaumont Street and Magdalen Street frontages.

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A major fire in 2015 was sparked by flambéed beef.