An Art Deco Dream: The Beaumont Hotel, Mayfair – Review

Looking for a place to stay in the capital? Fiona Duncan pays a visit to The Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair.

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Review: The Beaumont Hotel, Mayfair

Are you looking for a classy London hotel that won’t break the bank? If you, like me, feel that our grand dames such as Claridge’s and the Dorchester feel a bit bling, overrun by daytime visitors rather than hotel guests, denting that all-important air of exclusivity, then look no further than The Beaumont.

It’s success as a classic address is not a little unlikely. Only ten years old, it was built on the site of an Avis Rent-a-Car garage.  The ground floor façade with its floor to ceiling steel casement windows dates from 1927 but the rest is new and pure invention, harking back to the pre-war elegance of Mayfair hotels, heralded by the terrific chequerboard black granite and gold travertine floor of the lobby that stretches across the building.

The Beaumont, part of the Grosvenor Estate, was the first hotel from restaurant supremos Chris Corbin and Jeremy King. Now, owned by a private trust, its new CEO, recently appointed, is Stuart Proctor, a first-rank general manager who has left the Stafford to move to the Beaumont. He will no doubt continue to encourage the sense of calm permanence engendered by the tight-knit team already established by his predecessor Duncan Palmer. Under his watch, outdoor terraces in front of the hotel have added a feel of relaxed informality and the new wing has added an extra 29 bedrooms, while the rest of the hotel has been subtly refurbished, including the five-bedroom Roosevelt Suite. The mood, created by designer Thierry Despont and architects Reardon Smith. subtly underpins the Art Deco theme and combines it with an air of dignified comfort, with a new collection of art on the walls.

Just as a successful fabric pattern often contains a hardly visible disruptive element that piques the interest, so the Beaumont offers a terrific twist with its inhabitable sculpture Room, rising three storeys on the façade. Commissioned by Corbin & King, Room is both a magnificent public artwork and an extraordinary one-bedroom suite.

Two other laudable features at this excellent London hotel (noticeably less expensive, by the way, than the others mentioned): its buzzing, womb-like restaurant, the Colony Grill, serving timeless American classic dishes, which has murals instead of window at the heart of the hotel; and its core of charming long-serving staff who help to create that pleasurable feeling of a grand dame hotel that’s been in business for decades.

BOOK IT

Doubles from £706 per night; breakfast from £35 per person. 020 7499 1001; thebeaumont.com.