Move over, Mayfair
In the shadow of Buckingham Palace, The Peninsula hotel occupies arguably the greatest position in London. And that’s just the beginning.
Related articles
The first embrace arriving guests receive comes wrapped in gleaming green metal—just as it has at the legendary Hong Kong mothership since 1970. There, the chauffeur cars are exclusively Rolls-Royces, but The Peninsula London has added Bentleys and BMWs to the fleet. Either way, welcome to the British capital. It’s very nice to be here.
That the hotel’s owners, Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels, would one day add a London property to an international portfolio that lists New York, Paris, Istanbul, Bangkok, Tokyo, Beijing, Chicago, Beverly Hills and Manila alongside the titular two cities, should never have been in doubt… even if sometimes it must have seemed so. The company took 30 years to settle on the hotel’s location, and it’s well known they rejected several sites that went on to be developed to great acclaim by others.
But as you come around Hyde Park Corner from Piccadilly, the Royal Parks stretching out on one side, the grandeur of Wellington Arch on the other, you understand that holding out for the perfect location was the right thing to do.
The letterhead says “1 Grosvenor Place, London, SW1X” but it really should just read “The very heart of Landmark London”. If this was a marker on the Monopoly board, it would out-rank even Mayfair and Park Lane. And everyone knows that’s where you want to put your hotels.
Most of the key cultural and commercial attractions of London are either an easy stroll or within the roughly 2 km radius covered by the hotel’s on-call car service. You could spend a week here, experiencing the best London has to offer, without ever once making the Orphean descent to the Tube.
There’s an obvious architectural challenge presented by building something new surrounded by some of the most recognisable historical buildings in the world. A misstep would immediately mark the newcomer as an interloper. But as you approach the hotel, it seems as if it’s always been there. There’s an assured, refined calm to the edifice. No faux-heritage flourishes here, just a timeless quality that speaks to a willingness to being part of this prized precinct for a long time to come.
That sense of calm is extended as your chariot pulls in off the street and enters an enclosed courtyard, washed in gentle light and draping greenery. A team of long-coated doormen provide a warm welcome—a deft quip about how, after the influx of BAFTA award winners for a ceremony the previous day, the real celebrities are now here, manages to brush the journalistic ego despite its outrageously obvious inaccuracy.
A hotel’s lobby is its first impression, and The Peninsula London makes a good one; towering columns and striking Murano chandeliers, hand-drawn de Gournay murals and soothing palms. Floor-to-ceiling windows and the deliberate decision to slightly elevate the entrance facing out to Hyde Park Corner, give the strong sense that this is a space to watch and be watched. After all, what else are great hotel lobbies for?
Check-in is seamless and unfussed, as it should be when it operates on a completely flexible check-in, check-out system called Peninsula Time, which is tailored to individual needs. Before you know it, you’re in a hotel room you may never want to leave. The Peninsula London’s 190 rooms consist of 131 guest rooms and 59 suites designed by architect Peter Marino to reflect the distinctive grandeur of Belgravia. Rooms range in size from 51–59 m² and all feature mahogany-lined dressing rooms, enormous bathrooms of a honeyed onyx that give the sensation of bathing in a crème brûleé, and enormous beds acting as portals to the kind of sleep only the truly virtuous could otherwise know.
Ultimate stay options include four lavish signature suites: the Palace Suite and the Grand Terrace Suite, both with large outdoor terraces facing Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, and the Arch Suite, so close to the grand monument you almost feel you could reach out and brush away the pigeons.
The Peninsula Suite, the hotel’s most palatial, includes a private screening room and fitness centre, as well as access to an exclusive VIP drop-off/pick-up service in the underground car park for optimal privacy and security. The Peninsula Suite can also be interconnected with as many as seven other rooms and suites on the floor to create a sumptuous private apartment-like environment totalling nearly 1,300 m², the largest in London. The work of more than 40 artists from the Royal Drawing School has been commissioned to decorate the room with British landscapes in a diverse range of styles.
But the man who spends all his time in a hotel room is either far too in love with his own company, or in witness protection. The real test of a great hotel is the spaces in which you share it with others. Here The Peninsula offers a lot of impressive options.
The hotel’s Far-Eastern heritage is reflected and reimagined in the Cantonese fine diner, Canton Blue, and its adjoining cocktail bar, Little Blue. In the bar, Eastern flavours meet classic Western mixology techniques in perfectly pitched drinks that twist classic cocktails through the use of fine teas and tinctures made from vibrant spices.
It’s the ideal way to prepare for the experience awaiting in Canton Blue. A classic Cantonese restaurant is a feature of every Peninsula hotel around the world, and Canton Blue extends that tradition in a multi-zoned, multi-faceted space taking design cues from the Keying junks that once forged a trade route between China and Britain. Chef Dicky To, most recently at The Peninsula Paris, produces one of the finest Peking ducks on the planet. You should probably expect that at a place like this.
What you might not expect, and what is a real indication of the higher level at which things operate here, is the skilled sommelier who comes to the table with a magnum of Amontillado sherry to go with it. No predictable pinot noir here.
While this part of the hotel is informed by its origins, the Brooklands restaurant and bar are an emphatic statement of Britishness—specifically, a celebration of great British design in the pursuit of elegant speed—requiring you to enter through a dedicated lobby decorated with the nose cone from Concorde, and ascend in a lift designed, both visually and aurally, to give the impression of rising by hot air balloon.
The bar is destined to become one of great hotel bars of the world, with its unique view of the London skyline and décor nodding to the finest British automotive coachwork. The restaurant, helmed by legendary Claude Bosi and featuring the finest British produce from Devon snails to Exmoor caviar, feels as if you’re dining in a Concorde converted into a flying dining room, right down to a scale model of the aircraft forming the ceiling above you.
In a city hardly lacking for options, and where the competition have literally become bywords for luxurious accommodation, The Peninsula still manages to raise the bar. This is a hotel that will redefine London, for both traveller and resident alike.
Click here to subscribe to Robb Report ANZ.
Subscribe to the Newsletter
Recommended for you
What Venice’s New Tourist Tax Means for Your Next Trip
The Italian city will now charge visitors an entry fee during peak season.
May 1, 2024