The Bar Hemingway at The Ritz hotel, Paris

What is the story behind one of the best hotels in Paris having a bar named after the writer Ernest Hemingway? Surely the bohemian member of the Lost Generation of ex-pat writers in Paris would have been more at home in a rickety garret than a hotel that has counted amongst its guests Edwards VII, Greta Garbo and Princess Diana. The French capital that was the temporary home to Gertrude Stein, James Joyce and Ezra Pound was a literary melting pot that demanded experience of life at the grass roots.

Indeed, when Hemingway arrived in Paris in 1921, his first apartment had no running water and a bathroom that was a closet with a slop bucket inside. The author of "The Sun Also Rises" could have afforded much better in view of his job writing articles for the Toronto Star and his wife Hadley's trust fund, giving them an annual income of $3,000, a decent sum after the favourable exchange rate.

In similar style, Hemingway's contemporary in Paris, George Orwell, delighted in slumming it by working long hours in dingy hotel kitchens and living in dodgy guest houses - all endured in the pursuit of material for his novels. Orwell could easily have fallen back on his aunt Nellie Limouzin, who also lived in Paris.

While Orwell moved on from Paris to London to experience life as a tramp, Hemingway on the other hand frequently returned to Paris after the 1920s, often staying in the Ritz Hotel in a room facing the Place Vendome. The writer had made his name and was prepared to splash out, staying at the Ritz for weeks or even months.

The Ritz was a venue to take time-out during the liberation of Paris in 1944. After observing the Normandy landings as magazine correspondent, Hemingway drove into Paris with a full entourage of PR officer, lieutenant, cook, photographer and driver, the latter standing guard outside the hotel while Hemingway drank at the bar. Later, in 1956, the writer was reminded that his suitcase had been in storage at the bar. He retrieved it to discover that it contained his notes that were to form "A Moveable Feast", his memoirs about life in Paris in the 1920s.

Thus we have the Bar Hemingway at the Ritz. Visitors today may study the 25 photographs by the writer that grace the walls. They would be advised that a cocktail will cost at least 20 euros, and that the most expensive tipple, the Ritz Sidecar, may cost as much as 700. The rich wood paneling and deep armchairs are a long way from the garret room that was once the home of Ernest Hemingway.