Eye on London
If you’re flying to the English capital this northern summer, take note: the hotel scene is hotting up with several launches.
In the city, exclusive private members’ club Soho House & Co. has unveiled The Ned (thened.com), set in the former Midland Bank building designed in the 1920s by British architect Edwin “Ned” Lutyens. Its 252 guestrooms range from Crash Pads (a compact comfort zone with floral wallpaper and a marble mosaic bathroom) to lavish suites with a marble or mahogany fireplace.
In nearby Shoreditch, New York hotelier Michael Achenbaum has just raised the curtain on, well, The Curtain (thecurtain.com), a five-storey red-brick building with 120 rooms, a rooftop pool, a basement members’ club and the first outpost of Harlem’s revered Red Rooster restaurant.
Then there’s the historic Russell Hotel, first opened in 1898, undergoing a multimillion-pound revamp to launch later this year as The Principal London (phcompany.com); the city’s first Nobu Hotel (nobuhotelshoreditch.com); and the transformation of the original Scotland Yard HQ into what’s rumoured to be the most expensive hotel in London.