I look at hotels so much that I get a bit jaded, and it takes a great interior to raise my spirits. I can go for ages and not see something that makes my heart leap, but at the end of 2014 two came along at once – a bit like London buses. The first of these was in the Cotswolds, the delightful Kings Head which I was invited to stay in on their soft opening to create a Review. The Beaumont was the second delight, a rich dark decadent chocolate of an hotel to be enjoyed slowly.
The hotel was presented as being transatlantic, capturing the feel of an ocean liner. Strangely this pr puff line had been used for the decidedly industrial, more cross-channel ferry than liner Mondrian, so I went with some suspicion for my visit to the Beaumont. In this case it was not hyperbole but a true description of a gorgeous interior created by long experienced hotel specialist Richmond Design. Unlike the touch of the tyros at the Mondrian, here the design was deft, luxurious and absolutely delightful in its use of wood veneers, panelling by the same company I worked with in creating the timber panelled spaces at the Celtic Manor.
Richly decorated, hardly any grey in sight, the interiors delight at every turn. This isn’t just some brassy statement on entry but a continuing cornucopia of delights as every room exhibited the same attention to detail, visual richness and classy comfort. This may be Corbin and Kings first hotel, but let’s hope the team they have put together are used to extend their empire if the hotels are all going to be of this quality.
The building used to be an Avis car rental business and before that the parking garage for Selfridges. It sits in Brown Hart Gardens at the north end of Mayfair, just a brief walk off Oxford and Bond Streets. The square is discreet, quiet and gardened, the garden in the centre hosting an architecturally subtle and interesting café. The building is at ease with its neighbours and has been given a not too subtle architectural signature by use of an Anthony Gormley ‘cubist’ figure to make an external statement out of an internal suite.
