A suite with its own postcode, restaurants from Michelin-starred chefs and a hotel complex that features a bowling alley; the capital’s hotel scene is going up a gear. Chloe Cann reports
The Mondrian London will soon call the increasingly trendy South Bank home, taking up residence in Sea Containers House by the Thames on September 30. While most of the 359 rooms and suites will feature river views, the rooftop bar will provide guests with an even greater vista of the London skyline.
The hotel will also boast a 56-seat screening room, designed to attract the film community in much the same way as the Mondrian in West Hollywood does. New York chef Seamus Mullen will take charge in the hotel’s kitchen, while master mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana will preside over cocktail bar Dandelyan, which will feature drinks inspired by wild plants of the British countryside.
Central London has long been the preserve of luxury hotels, but the Dorsett, which opened on June 24, has branched out into Shepherd’s Bush. The Dorsett Hospitality International portfolio has 18 hotels in Asia, but this is the firm’s first hotel in the United Kingdom and Europe. Set within a Grade II-listed building built in 1923, and formerly a cinema, the Dorsett retains the property’s historic facade.
There are 317 Chinese-inspired bedrooms across seven storeys. It has two restaurants: one a contemporary brasserie style, the other a fine-dining Chinese restaurant. Also on-site is the Pavilion Spa, combining modern Western technology with traditional Asian health principles.
Covering a three-quarter-acre site in Soho, the Ham Yard Hotel is centred around a tree-filled courtyard and pedestrian thoroughfare. It features 91 bedrooms and suites and 24 residential apartments. The newly opened space links Great Windmill Street to Denman Street, opening up Ham Yard and Denman Place to the public for the first time since the 1960s.
The area now features a “village” of high-end boutiques. Decked out in a modern British style with eclectic, colourful interiors, owners Kit and Tim Kemp have called the property their most “daring” design project to date. It aims to meet every need, with a 188-seat cinema, an original 1950s four-lane bowling alley imported from Texas and a leafy rooftop bar, while the spa and gym area has a hypoxic chamber for altitude training.
Londoners may be familiar with The Edition hotel on account of its glamorous, celeb-populated and oversubscribed restaurant, Berners Tavern. Executive chef Jason Atherton, who counts several critically acclaimed London restaurants as his own, has helped to create a buzz around the all-day dining venue with a contemporary British menu.
Inspired by manor house libraries and London’s 19th-century private clubs, oak-panelled cocktail bar the Punch Room is also a draw, with its extravagant leather and velvet furnishings.
Located in Fitzrovia, the space was first converted into a hotel in 1909 and played host to the likes of King Edward VII and Carl Faberge. It reopened under the Edition hotels brand in September last year. All 173 rooms have iPod docking stations and flatscreen TVs, as well as custom imported linens. The penthouse suite features a wraparound landscaped terrace with 360-degree views of London and its own dining room.
Situated in central London, just three minutes walk from Holborn tube station, the Rosewood London opened in October last year. The 1914 Edwardian Belle Epoque building underwent extensive renovations to preserve the Grade II-listed street frontage and dome and the marble staircase that rises up through all seven storeys of the hotel.
In addition to the 262 guestrooms, the “Midtown” hotel features 44 suites; of these the Grand Manor House Wing is the most extravagant and the only hotel suite in the world to boast its own postcode. Accessed via a private elevator and its own street entrance, the wing has six bedrooms, a dressing chamber, library, dining room and several sitting rooms across 6,318 square feet.
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