As we are nearing the end of January, our sights are set firmly on the spring with visions of being out at restaurants, staying at hotels, and going to the theatre. Our cities will soon be full of life and back to the usual hustle and bustle. As travel bans remain firmly in place, it is time to look toward the new events and openings that are planned for the UK in the coming 12 months.

In light of this, we will be rounding up the new hotels that are due to open this year. It’s been an incredibly difficult year for Hotels and hospitality throughout the UK, and those that have been able to operate have had to deal with social distancing and enhanced cleaning measures, alongside customer demand at a fraction of normal levels. This is why we should be supporting them, and looking to travel closer to home this summer.

The Nomad London was due to open in December 2020, but is now planning on opening at the earliest opportunity this year. Housed within the grade II listed former Bow Street Magistrates’ Court and Police Station on Bow Street close to Covent Garden Underground Station, the 92-room Nomad London will feature a number of food and beverage outlets including all day dining Nomad Restaurant housed within an atrium “reminiscent of an Edwardian Greenhouse”. After the success of their outstanding success in New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, this is one to look out for. 

A new ‘Super Boutique’ Hotel is set to open this year in Leicester Square – The Londoner. The property will have six dining venues, including a ground-floor tavern and a contemporary Japanese lounge bar with rooftop terrace, while subterranean levels will house a ballroom with capacity for 864 guests, meeting rooms,  private screening rooms, a wellness space, and leisure facilities including a swimming pool and gym, hair and nail salon, a barber shop and cinema. The 350 room hotel will include all the latest technology, floor-to-ceiling windows and incredible artwork. 

The Pan Pacific Hotel has been planning this opening since 2014(!) and will finally be opening in 2021. It will be situated at One Bishopsgate and will be the first European venture from the group. There will be a magnificent ballroom for up to 370 guests, an 18th floor penthouse, an indoor pool and other luxurious spa facilities. 

Scheduled for this summer (2021) Chateau Denmark will bring you 55 rooms which will ‘invoke a time where punk, rock and gothic meets grandeur and psychedelia”. Running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street, Denmark Street has been associated with British popular music since the 1950s, and is where The Rolling Stones recorded their first album, and where the Sex Pistols once lived and this incredible hotel will be housed across 16 characterful buildings.

Looking forward to September, the Bradwick Soho is due to open its doors. It is said that Martin Brudnizki has taken inspiration, “from the gritty glamour, but also eclectic and diverse history of Soho”. Situated on the corner of Broadwick Street and Berwick Street, the hotel will offer 57 rooms including a penthouse and nine suites, with “many rooms offering private balconies overlooking the bustling streets”. The hotel’s food and beverage concepts will be operated in partnership with Jamie Poulton and chef Ed Baines, founders of Randall and Aubin on nearby Brewer Street. Skyline cocktail drinkers rejoice, an Italian restaurant, there will be a rooftop cocktail bar with a wrap around terrace.

Country house hotel Beaverbrook is to open its first outpost in London this year, housed within two Georgian townhouses on Sloane Street. A partnership with property manager, investor and developer Cadogan – which owns 93 acres of Chelsea and Kensington – will see a 14-suite boutique hotel open in summer 2021 opposite Cadogan Place Gardens.The suites will be styled and named after London theatres, and the property will also feature a 60-cover contemporary Japanese restaurant and bar, the interiors of which will be inspired by 19th century artist Kokusai.

The 220-room Westin London City will be located on the site of the redeveloped Queensbridge House on the North Bank of the River Thames, opposite the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Currently listed on Marriott’s website as opening in June 2021, the hotel will feature a riverside bar and restaurant which will open onto a new public walkway with views across to the South Bank, as well as an indoor swimming pool, fitness centre, spa, business centre and 830sqm of events space including four meeting rooms and a Junior Ballroom.

A special mention must go to the Mayfair Townhouse, who opened very briefly last year to then have to close its doors again in December, but are looking to reopen as soon as possible in the coming months. It is housed within a set of listed Georgian buildings formerly home to the Hilton London Green Park. Located on Half Moon Street close to Green Park Underground Station, the 172-room property has been gutted and refurbished, with features including a Penthouse suite and Garden suite, as well as The Dandy Bar, gym, and “versatile event spaces”. It has already made a big impression in the short time it was open.

There are also two hotels that are updating and renovating, and they are also all due to reopen their doors in 2021. The Mondrian Shoreditch London will see the existing hotel and members’ club, ‘The Curtain’ rebranded, following “an update and restyling of the hotel”. There will be 120 rooms, with Michelin star spanish chef Dani Garcia opening her first Uk Restaurant within the hotel, alongside the return of The Rumpus Room Bar. The Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair has undergone significant extension and refurbishment, although the finished products are being kept under wraps, you’ll have to go and see for yourself when it reopens later this year. 

So there you have it, amongst the doom and gloom that has extended more than we could have imagined, there is light and hope at the end of the tunnel. Air Courier is looking forward to supporting those hotels and our Les Clefs d’Or friends and colleagues in 2021 and beyond. 

#itsbetterbyair