Tried & Tested

Hotel check: Soho Hotel

19 Feb 2013 by Tom Otley

What’s it like? Open since 2004, this member of Firmdale Hotels (Haymarket Hotel, Covent Garden, Charlotte Street) was the first luxury hotel to open in Soho, and today has a large and loyal following among the media industry of Soho, with a strong American presence.

Co-owner Kit Kemp likes modern art as you’ll see from the huge ten foot tall statue (Botero) of a fat cat standing guard in the lobby. Presumably it wouldn’t go down as well if the hotel was in the City.

Staff are dressed by Soho-based bespoke tailor Mark Powell and English knitwear designer John Smedley, and they contrast with the materials of the public areas - wood, metal, glass and stone, either unfinished or partly finished - oak floorboards, for instance, and almost-ugly metal-framed windows and doors contrasting with French fireplaces.

Walk past reception and there’s a drawing room in pinks and greens, and a library room that wouldn’t look out of place in a grand family home.

Where is it? Between Dean and Wardour Streets, with the main entrance to the hotel is on Richmond Mews (off Dean Street) with another bar/restaurant entrance via Flaxman Court (off Wardour Street).

Rooms: The hotel has 85 bedrooms and suites plus six one and two-bedroom apartments. The rooms are on floors one to five and are all different, though with constants of large beds, oversized bed heads, sleek modern furniture and clever lighting.

All rooms have air conditioning, high speed complimentary wifi, two-line direct dial telephone with voicemail, flat widescreen TVs with satellite channels, DVD players, Tivoli bedside radios, fully stocked minibar and personal safe.

The bathrooms are polished granite, oak and glass with telephone, heated towel rails, anti-misting mirrors, cast iron tub, separate shower, double basins, bidet, terry cloth bathrobes and products by London-based perfumer Miller Harris. 

I had a look at a range of rooms, from the Superior, through to Luxury and Junior Suite, with views onto both Flaxman Court and Richmond Mews, and with rooms on the higher floors being preferable (fifth floor almost offers roof tops).

The four, fifth floor apartments are fabulous, with an alternative street entrance and private elevator. We stayed in one of these, and while the bedrooms are of the same high standard as all the other rooms in the hotel, what you get is a large lounge area with comfortable sofas and a kitchen, and once we were comfortable here it was tough to make the decision to go out, even with all the attractions of an evening in the West End of London on our doorstep.

It’s also quite a USP being able to use the private lift and then exit by a separate door from the main reception – where a car would be waiting if you were a celebrity, I imagine.

Bars and restaurants It’s a real achievement to have a successful hotel bar in Soho (or the West End) with so much competition, and the same goes for the restaurant. The all-day REFUEL Bar and Restaurant on the ground floor is adjacent to the lobby and with a street entrance on Flaxman Court off Wardour Street. The restaurant seats 100 with a further 60 at the bar.

An additional private dining room off the restaurant can seat up to 12 guests. A striking privately commissioned colourful  mural by Alexander Hollweg behind the oak and pewter bar illustrates the site’s previous life as a NCP car park.

There are also two spacious drawing rooms, lovely places to relax with a drink or a cup of tea, using the hotel’s wifi to catch up on some work or just having the sensation of being in a private members' club, without having to talk to any of the other members.

Business and meeting facilities There are two state-of-the art screening rooms and four private event rooms. The largest of the screening rooms has 100 comfortable bright red Poltrona Frau leather seats with the walls of the room lined with navy blue pinstriped men’s wool suiting.

The smaller cinema has 45 deep individual Poltrona Frau armchairs covered in cowhide (the walls are covered in charcoal pinstriped wool). The basement has three interconnecting rooms and The Crimson Bar is a lounge bar for private parties.

There is also a private dining room within Refuel (for ten) and the drawing room on the ground floor can also be hired for events. The hotel’s fifth floor Terrace Suite has wrap around private terraces with views over the Soho rooftops as far as Canary Wharf and the London Eye. The interior is the ultimate in luxury penthouse living and includes a wood burning fireplace and Loewe sound and TV system.

Leisure On the basement level there is a fully equipped gym with two beauty treatment rooms and a personal trainer on-site. There are also two beauty treatment rooms which offer a variety of treatments including full body massage, reflexology, facial, manicure and pedicure, using products from Temple Spa.

Verdict It’s a testament to the design of this hotel that it hasn’t dated, and doesn’t even feel “classic”, but is as contemporary as it was when it launched. The staff are superb, the rooms very comfortable, the location hard to beat and the food and beverage outlets of a high standard.

Fact file

  • How many rooms  85 bedrooms and suites plus six private apartments, as follows: Superior (28 sqm) – six; Luxury (42 sqm) – 15; Deluxe (48 sqm) – 30; Luxury Junior Suite (50 sqm) – 17; Deluxe Junior Suite (54 sqm) – 15; Penthouse Suites (70 – 97 sqm) – two; Apartments (115 sqm) – four; Soho Suite (135 sqm) – one; Terrace Suite (290 sqm) – one
  • Price Superior Room from £355
  • Contact 4 Richmond Mews (Off Dean Street); tel +44 (0)20 7559 3000; sohohotel.com

Tom Otley

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