London’s St John Hotel to rebrand as One Leicester Street

St John Hotel in London’s Soho is to rebrand as One Leicester Street at the start of May. The 15-room hotel, restaurant and bar was opened by Trevor Gulliver and Fergus Henderson in April 2011 as an offshoot of St John Bar and Restaurant in Smithfield (see online news April 14, 2011), but was placed into administration in late 2012, and was subsequently purchased by Singaporean hotelier Peng Loh. The hotel rooms remain open, but the restaurant and bar are currently being refurbished, and will reopen on May 1, co-inciding with the rebranding. The Restaurant at One Leicester Street will be headed up by Tom Harris, who was the head chef of the previous restaurant at the St John Hotel. According to the press release “Harris’ daily changing lunch and dinner menu will be presented in such a way as to allow guests to share smaller and larger dishes and step outside the more traditional starter, main course and dessert format”. The eatery will feature “characterful oak parquet flooring”, “a generous leather banquette” flanking one long wall, black ash timber dining chairs and bespoke designed copper pendant lights that “provide sparkle and bathe the space in a soft warm light”. There will also be a Victorian awning overhanging the terrace area, where visitors will be able to stop for coffee and ice cream. The Bar at One Leicester Street will feature a oak bar and “bespoke, generously soft seating”, and will be available for private hire. The rebranded property will join six hotels and restaurants within the Unlisted Collection in Singapore, Shanghai and London, with a further property set to open in Sydney next year. For more information visit oneleicesterstreet.com (currently just a landing page). Report by Mark Caswell