Hotel review: lifting the lid on the Grand Hotel Bellevue London

Set within a classic Paddington townhouse, overlooking a quiet square that feels like a place Jane Austen would have felt comfortable, it is hard to believe that mere steps away I was beating my way through the suitcase-wheeling crowds populating the nearby station. As I approached the entrance of The Grand Hotel Bellevue, the façade gave nothing much away, but the buttery lighting and warm colours reflected invitingly through the windows, gave me a small suggestion of what to expect from behind those closed doors.

Image credit: Matthieu Salvaing

Stepping inside, the interior reveals a series of intimate, well-proportioned spaces where texture, colour and detail have clearly been chosen with care and with more than a dash of bold inspiration. The design is most definitely about details, all of which invite you to look closer: soft lighting glints off polished surfaces, rich fabrics add depth, and subtle patterning keeps your attention. Grand Hotel Bellevue is the first British property by French group, Lignée, with both the hotel and its interiors designed by Paris-based architect, Fabrizio Casiraghi.

Casiraghi apparently often begins by imagining a narrative or character around a space, and  in this case conceived the hotel as the imagined home of an aristocratic, globe-trotting couple – once you know that part of the puzzle, the characters and the design falls seamlessly into place.

Image credit: Billal Taright

That warm colour palette that beckons you in from across the park, is a thread that runs through the whole property – the spaces are all maximised by the bold use of an essentially traditional aesthetic, but one that sits firmly and comfortably in the 21st century. The use of eclectic and bespoke elements gives the reception and downstairs spaces a sense of the residential, and, if this hotel was indeed a house, its owner had most definitely been on The Grand Tour of its period!

Nestled comfortably opposite the reception, The Pondicherry Bar is – quite literally – the cherry on the top of the design, as a place where all the colours and details pull together to reflect the hotels heritage, while still managing to feel cool, contemporary and of the city.

The maxim ‘small but perfectly formed’ is clearly on show in the Pondicherry – which, while having all the basic necessities of a hotel bar, also has the warmth and intimacy of a friends lounge. It felt like a place I could read the paper with my morning coffee, have a meeting and catch up on emails a bit later, and then sip on a fabulously crafted cocktail as the evening unfolded – and I did…all three!

The reception and public spaces successfully combine the combination of curated and comfort, allowing guests to maximise the use of all areas – there is an art to creating a multi-functional bar and seating area, and despite its limited square meterage, this one works with an unselfconscious ease.

Image credit: Billal Taright

In this space, the warm tones on the walls, are underlined by the statement wall covering created by Casiraghi in collaboration with American fashion designer Emily Bode. Wrapping around the entire room, this design is definitely the talking point that captures the eclectic spirit of the hotel – inspired by the British connections to India, the deep blue tapestry, with its images of elephants and tigers and traditional figures, pulls the entire hotel narrative together as it wraps its story around the room.

The colours lighten as you head upstairs, and the details continue into the guestrooms. Again space is limited but maximised, with an undeniable sense of an era reflected in the period details, but always underpinned with luxuriously comforting details. The period details are completely integrated into the room, from the brassware in the bathroom to the moulded cornices that define the high ceilings. The guestrooms really encapsulate the aesthetic running though this gem, with a comfortable balance between elegance and ease, and delivering a place where historical references are softened by a contemporary sensibility.

Doing my arrival route in reverse, it was with great reluctance that I stepped out of the cocooned comfort of the Grand Hotel Bellevue, straight back into the pace of working-day London – the call of the Pondicherry Orient Expritz with generous splashes of gin and a hint of coriander felt like a lot more enticing end to my day, than dashing off to grab my seat on the next Great Western Rail waiting on Platform 4!

Main image credit: Billal Taright