United Kingdom / Vietnam: Commemorative plaque affixed to the wall of the New Zealand High Commission, London, once the site of the Carlton Hotel (1899-1940) where Ho Chi Minh worked for a period in 1913

The Carlton Hotel, London was a luxury hotel that operated from 1899 to 1940. It was designed by the architect C. J. Phipps as part of a larger development that included the rebuilding of Her Majesty's Theatre, which is adjacent to the hotel site. The Carlton was originally run by the Swiss hotelier César Ritz, with Auguste Escoffier as the head chef. In its early days it was one of London's most fashionable hotels and drew some custom away from the Savoy Hotel, which Ritz and Escoffier had previously managed.

At various points between 1913 and 1919, the young Ho Chi Minh lived in West Ealing and later in Crouch End. It is thought that Ho trained as a pastry chef under the legendary French master, Escoffier, at the Carlton Hotel in the Haymarket, Westminster.

The hotel lost some of its prestige after Ritz retired, but continued to trade profitably until it was badly damaged by German bombing in 1940. The British government requisitioned the building in 1942. After the Second World War the shareholders of the hotel sold the lease of the site, and the surviving parts of the building were demolished in 1957–58. The site is now occupied by the New Zealand High Commission.

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