Leicester Square is being reconstructed. Trees are boxed in for protection as the whole square gets a makeover ready for the Olympics, which I hear rumoured are coming to London. Starwood’s timing is right, although they are slightly later than scheduled, with plenty of time to work out the gremlins and get themselves in fine working order for the Great Event. At last the square provides competition for the Hampshire Hotel. Soon Premier will also add its new hotel to the Square. The new building, by Jestico and Wiles, glows on the most high profile corner of the Square, the site previously of the Swiss Centre. Its glass finish is light and reflects the surrounding environment, changing colour at night with a sophisticated 300 LED lighting system under its skin that provides a two minute light performance across the facade after dark.
Easily standing proud in the crowd, it does seem as if it the building has actually given the Square itself the cold shoulder, with a retail unit fronting the square and the entrance banished to Wardour Street, presumably to allow car access to the front doors. Or did someone in White Plains look at the map and say ‘hey guys, look! Wardour – begins with W just like the hotel’ leaving the rest, as they say, to history?
Whatever the reason it seems odd that the restaurant occupies a discrete position on the rear of the building, an M&M store the high profile frontage on the Square. It will not bother cabbies but travellers coming from Leicester Square tube may well have problems spotting the way in. There will be no dining on the Square, no easy celebrity access for those red carpet nights either. Make no mistake though; this is a gorgeous new landmark building, standing like a lighthouse white and pure amongst the surrounding Victoriana.
A large mirrored ‘W’ is the only outside signage. Despite its size, the mirrored finish makes it float lightly in the entrance space, shared only with the black-clad greeters, the discreet ‘W’ in their lapels showing they are not bookies’ runners. The informality and stylishness of New York is brought to London, but the guys are good, not backward at coming forward. Inside the lobby is also black, lit by mirror balls – a design theme continued through the hotel. In each lift lobby the balls show which floor you are on, making the floor numbers and lighting dramatic at every level.
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