The Lanesborough

The Lanesborough has changed hands and re-opened on July 15, 2015 as part of the Oetker Collection. It has undergone a complete renovation. The new chef is working under the direction of Eric Frechon from Hotel Bristol in Paris [added on July 22].

A long history

It is impossible for people not familiar with The Lanesborough to recognize it is a hotel because, as a heritage building, the façade bears no exterior hotel sign.

In 1719, when today’s Hyde Park Corner area was still in the countryside, just on the edge of London town, the second Viscount Lanesborough, James Lane, built Lanesborough House as a country retreat.

The Viscount had no children. In 1733, a group of governors from Westminster Hospital rented Lanesborough House to use it as a hospital. In 1827, architect William Wilkins, who also designed the National Gallery, built a new, larger hospital on the same site in his trademark Greek Regency style. Until the 1980s, the building remained St George’s Hospital, where Florence Nightingale had once worked as governor.

The Royal Suite bedroom. Photos © The Lanesborough, Starwood Hotels.

A clause of the 19th century deal stated that the estate could be bought back by the owner family at the original price if it was no longer used as a hospital. When the health service decided to shut the hospital down, the sixth Duke of Westminister – aka Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor – bought it back at the original sale price of £6000!

Today’s London tourists are grateful to the Duke of Westminister’s clever lawyers. After a £100 million transformation, The Lanesborough, situated on Hyde Park Corner, opened on December 31, 1990 as The Lanesborough luxury hotel.

The rooms feature inlaid parquet borders, handmade rugs, silk wall coverings, polished Mahogany joinery and Carrara marble bathrooms. Triple-glazed rooms ensure that you can sleep peacefully.

The building was restored under the supervision of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, the Georgian Society, the Victorian Society and English Heritage. Furniture, chandeliers, draperies and fabrics were copied from 1820s and 1830s original museum pieces as well as from prints and information from historic archives. No two rooms are exactly the same. Italian lime stone was used in the lobby. The Lanesborough has become an excellent example of neo-classical design and décor.

The Library Bar. It was voted Best Hotel Bar in the World by Hardens Guide in 2004. Photos © The Lanesborough, Starwood Hotels.

The culinary experience at The Lanesborough

Since its re-launch in 2009, Massimiliano Blasone is the Executive Chef at Apsleys, a Heinz Beck restaurant. Blasone has worked under Heinz Beck since 1999 at the German chef’s Roman restaurant La Pergola, holder of 3 Michelin stars. I have tested Beck’s brilliant cuisine a few years ago and can warmly recommend it. [Added on March 21, 2012: now I have had the chance to taste Massimiliano Blasone’s “light cuisine of Mediterranean flavors”. Excellent!]. Massimiliano Blasone has managed to secure a Michelin star for Apsleys within five months, the quickest ever for a London restaurant to be awarded a first Michelin star. Paul Gayler is the Chef de Cuisine. In the 1980s, at London’s Inigo Jones, he once pioneered “Vegetarian Haute Cuisine”. Incidentally, meals are served on Royal Worcester porcelain exclusively made for The Lanesborough.

The Lanesborough won the Tea Council’s Afternoon Tea Award in 2009, 2010 and 2001. In January 2009, I tested the afternoon tea in my executive junior suite (300). At that period, it normally came with tuna, chicken and salmon sandwiches. As a vegetarian, I tasted instead cheese and mango chutney, tomato and basil, cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches with rocket salad, roasted vegetables, eggplants and courgettes. The Afternoon Tea was presented on a classical three-tear stand. It comprised sandwiches, scones, pastries, jam. As a tea, I chose a Yin Zhen, more of a summer beverage, but the perfect cure for my cold, together with the tension releasing neck and head massage with jojoba oil (a Comfort Zone product) by Rachel, the hotel’s head masseuse. Back to the afternoon: Scones with lemon curd, clotted cream and strawberry jam, a tea cake with cinnamon butter, an orange chocolate cake, a carrot cake, a raspberry cake, a delicious macaron, an orange mousse, a pistachio and raspberry praline as well as a caramel tower were part of the Afternoon Tea.

In addition, I fondly remember my vegetarian breakfast with grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, beans and round lentil cakes. Luckily, the hotel has a gym and Hyde Park for jogging is just around the corner.

Last but not least, let’s not forget The Library Bar with its “Liquid History”, where you can taste some of the world’s oldest and rarest Grande Champagne Cognacs such as a 1800 Bignon, which commemorates the year the United States moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. and a 1804 JBE de Massougues, which is the year Napoleon became Emperor of France.

At The Library Bar, you can enjoy Cuban cigars, unavailable in the United States. Some of them are pre-Castro made such as a 1918 Pre-Embargo 42 gauge. Vintage whiskies and armagnacs are other highlights of the bar.

Apsleys restaurant with a chandelier, the reign of chef Massimiliano Blasone. Photos © The Lanesborough.

Details make the difference

Details make the difference. The Lanesborough is famous for its complimentary services and amenities, offering true value for money. Let’s just mention some of them.

I stayed in room 300, an Executive Junior Suite. It came, as all rooms, with a 24-hour butler service, free Wifi high speed internet with a Sony VAIO Laptop (our your own computer, as I did), unlimited movies and music on demand in an interactive TV system [Update of March 9, 2012: no more free landline telephone calls].

Tea or coffee is served complimentary in the rooms with the daily wake-up calls. Mineral water and a bowl of fresh fruit with assorted sweets is replenished daily.

Upon my arrival, as I welcome, I was served excellent pralinés, Reynier Brut and Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagnes. At The Lanesborough, they know how to receive people.

In the spa, they mainly used La Prairie products. In the premium grade Carrara marble bathrooms, the amenities were from Lady Primrose (based in Dallas and London).

Let’s not forget another detail, the outstanding ventilation in the bathroom, probably the best I have ever seen. I produced as much steam in the bathtub as I possible could, but the bathroom mirror remained completely damp-free.

You can ask for exercise equipment to be placed in the larger rooms such as my Executive Junior Suite 300. I opted for the gym downstairs.

Last but not least, unique are the personal business cards and stationary printed on arrival. You get your complimentary personal business cards with your Lanesborough address and room phone number!

In short

Located on the borders of Knightsbridge and Belgravia, The Lanesborough is one of the best addresses in London. The result are some 60% of return guests.

As a last anecdote, let’s mention Bernie Madoff, who was a regular guest at The Lanesborough. In better times, he appreciated the services of the five-star luxury hotel. I guess in the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, there is no complimentary butler service for him.

The exterior of The Lanesborough, a St. Regis Hotel. Architect William Wilkins’ neo-classical design with coupled windows, columns, friezes and architraves derived from the ancient Choragic Monument of Thrasyllus. All photos © The Lanesborough, Starwood Hotels.