Trust Haute Time: this summer we’re all going to be hanging out in hotels thanks to a slew of red hot and happening new openings.
The biggest buzz is arguably about Andre Balazs’s Chiltern Firehouse. Located in a former fire station, this flaming hot new hotel/restaurant is the celeb hang out du jour: just last week the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Nigella Lawson, Ellie Goulding, One Direction, David Beckham and Rita Ora were all papped at the W1 property with Ora Instagramming a picture of a bottle of champagne from her room: “Thank-you my Firehouse family!!! Love you boys!!!”
Bradley Cooper, Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss, Stella McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Lily Allen are other A-listers who have been spotted slipping into the suave entrepreneur’s first London venture.
But while Chiltern Firehouse is most definitely making its mark in Marylebone, it’s not the only hot ticket in town.
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts recently opened a property in the capital over at the Shard with the official ribbon cutting led by London's Mayor, Boris Johnson. The hotel - the first luxury property to open south of the River Thames - occupies floors 34-52 of Europe’s tallest building and is all about jaw dropping views: anyone checking in can expect arresting vistas of London landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament, Tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Meanwhile in Mayfair, Jeremy King and Chris Corbin - the dynamic duo behind the buzzy Brasserie Zedel, The Delaunay and The Wolseley - are preparing to open The Beaumont. Corbin and King’s debut hotel, with its Listed Grade 11 Art deco exterior, promises to herald a return to “the pre-war elegance of Mayfair hotels” and will boast 73 rooms plus a New York style restaurant and bar and a sculpture created by Sir Antony Gormley.
And a stone’s throw away in Soho, Firmdale’s Ham Yard Hotel is set to launch on 1 June. Designed by Tim and Kit Kemp, the new 91 boutique hotel located on Soho’s last undeveloped Blitz bomb site is aiming to create an “urban village.” Building began on the development (which takes its name from an 18th century pub called The Ham), more than three years ago. But, given that the hotel will offer an original 1950s four lane bowling alley imported pin-by-pin from Texas, a 188 seat cinema, ‘Soholistic Spa’, bar, dance floor and, our favourite, a rooftop garden alongside the suites, we think it will be worth the wait.
The opening of the £100 million Ham Yard Hotel will complete the remarkable transformation of the south west corner of Soho.
However it’s not just the former Red Light District that has undergone a renaissance - so too has Holborn. Holborn has long been associated with suits but the arrival of Rosewood London - a 1914 Edwardian Belle Epoque gem in what was once an insurance company office building - has helped raised the bar. And it’s only set to get higher: later this summer The Hoxton Hotel will open, housing two restaurants from the Soho House Group.
Staying east, the Gansevoort Group is also opening a property (word is that it will feature the group’s trademark rooftop pool) on Curtain Road in 2015.
And last but by no means least, The Mondrian is setting up shop this summer bringing a taste of Miami Beach to the South Bank. Assets at the Tom Dixon-designed hotel will include a rooftop bar and brasserie.
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