From pools to pastries – why The Berkeley is the master of innovation
Rooftop pool extensions, summer restaurants, and baked treats from one of the world’s best pastry chefs – it’s all in a day’s work for The Berkeley, one of London’s most creative hotels.
As if being one of few luxury hotels in London to have a pool wasn’t already enough – The Berkeley went one better last year, outdoing itself by revealing a shiny new one.
It was one part of many recent changes across the Maybourne Group, given it grew by two hotels in as many years with its first international expansion, adding both The Maybourne Beverly Hills in LA and The Maybourne Riviera in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.
New hotels aside, I’ve always been impressed by The Berkeley’s own power of reinvention: laurels are not something this hotel ever rests on, despite the fact it’s more than 100 years old. During the pandemic, the hotel took the opportunity to expand upwards an entire floor and add a completely new replacement pool.
While some of us bought a few pot plants for the garden – some lucky ones maybe a hot tub – this hotel built on a ninth floor and added a more slick, 21st-century style guests-only swimming pool, with glass-walled views of Hyde Park and the rooftops of Knightsbridge.
As if that wasn’t enough, this year has also seen the hotel launch an addictive new attraction, Cedric Grolet at The Berkeley. This new space is designed by French interior designer Remi Tessier as a high-end pastry ‘lab’, and is the first patisserie outside France for a man cited as the best pastry chef in the world.
These perfect pastries don’t come cheap of course – you can get individual items, but a place to sit at Cedric Grolet’s Counter is priced at £135 per person (exclusive of service charge), with bookings open for three sittings daily – 10.30am, 1.30pm and 4pm.
Other partnerships at the hotel have included a Moss of the Isles collaboration at the four-room Bamford spa, and I was delighted to try a treatment during my stay. It’s hard to know what my favourite smell was during my visit – that smell of Moss of the Isles products during my treatment, or the aroma of fresh madeleines, which were handed out straight from the oven at Cedric Grolet.
I can’t imagine why, but should madeleines not be your thing, there are plenty of other dining delights at the hotel – I picked The Berkeley Cafe, as I just wanted a casual pre-show meal. This relaxed dining area connects to Cedric Grolet and segways off the unconventional lobby, where the team wait to greet guests from low, open desks rather than standing behind massive counters and screens.
For something with more culinary punch, Marcus Wareing’s outpost at The Berkeley showcases his Michelin-starred flair using the best of British ingredients. There’s also the Collins Room – which had a sizeable facelift by Robert Angell as part of an overall redesign a few years back.
That space offers a light and airy spot perfect for starting the day in, where my enormous breakfast was delivered with warm-hearted service and a side order of people watching. This is also the place to come for the hotel’s famous Pret-a-Portea, where current catwalk creations are recreated in biscuit and cake form to great colourful aplomb (it’s served Monday-Sunday between 1-5.30pm, from £64pp).
Outside opportunity
Two years ago, when hotels everywhere were desperate to see how they could still offer service and stay open in some way, an unassuming driveway at the side of the hotel was quickly transformed into The Garden.
With its relaxed al fresco ambience on Wilton Place with views of neighbouring St Paul’s church, it soon became a talk-of-the-town runaway success, as locals, Londoners and (eventually guests) all dove headfirst into al fresco dining.
And for this season – it’s evolved into Il Giardino, where herb plants and olive trees line the space and food flies out of the kitchen under the steer of Italian chef Antonio Pavone. Menus, sketched with lemon, negroni and gelato motifs, come courtesy of illustrator Chiara Perano, whilst Ceraudo’s bold Italian fabrics sit so well with Bettina Ceramica signature ceramics, and yellow blocks of Aqua di Parma candles twinkle away, completing the mood of La Dolce Vita.
Another famous factor at the hotel is of course the Blue Bar, with its cool eponymous coloured design, and also with a glass pavilion beneath which to while away the hours. And aside from these spaces, let’s not forget The Berkeley Bar & Terrace, with a rich design story conceived by Irish interior designer Bryan O’Sullivan.
One of the big attractions is the spectacular mural painted by New York-based artist TM Davy, making it probably one of the most used images by travel and lifestyle magazines and websites when it was launched in 2019. The mural sits on the wall of The Snug, which is a nod to O’Sullivan’s Irish roots, and the days when snugs were reserved for women within pubs, with men and women not mixing socially. It’s fitting then that the mural depicts gazing female faces with mysterious and knowing expressions looking down over proceedings in this little bar-within-a-bar, one which seats just nine guests, has its own sound system and even a call-for-service button.
And so to bed
Upstairs at the hotel, there are 191 rooms, branching off cool corridors where bookcases keep you amused during minor waits for the lifts. I was trying out one of the Park Townhouse Suites – the kind of place you do a little squeal in when you walk in. Well, I did, and I’ve stayed in a lot of hotel rooms...
Designed by Joyce Wang, the suite sits on a corner with bedroom, bathroom and lounge views of Hyde Park. That lounge also comes with a working fire, artfully curated book selection and plenty of covetable furniture and contemporary lighting. The dining table was piled with champagne and welcome amenities – later on, a beautiful tiered selection of delicious canapes on the "branches" of a miniature tree beneath a giant cloche was placed in the room while we were out.
Thoughtfully, the turn-down gift was a gorgeous silk monogrammed eye mask – it wasn’t essential though, as the black-out curtains did their job in ensuring a soothing night’s sleep. My sister and I had plenty of space with twin beds and two sizeable separate closets, and there were plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ as we admired the stunning bathroom, with huge double walk-in shower, massive egg-shaped bath and a vanity area flooded with natural light and complete with Dyson hairdryer – bathroom amenities by British brand Anatome added an extra touch of exclusivity.
I once came for lunch here in one of the other suites, the stunning glasshouse Grand Pavilion Penthouse designed by Andre Fu, and dined with the man himself (other designers the hotel has collaborated with include John Heah and Helen Green), understanding more about his soothing and sleek design style, and enjoying the suite’s terrace.
For those who really do want style, substance and discreet service in a London hotel, this is the place. And it’s quite possible they will also often find themselves in the most happening restaurant of the moment too. Or pool, if the British weather allows.
How to book it
Rooms start from £780; a night at The Park Townhouse Suite is £4,260, the-berkeley.co.uk
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
