by All good hotels should take their guests on a “journey” and if the hotel has a theme, it should open seamlessly. At the Grand Hotel Bellevue, I found the theme confusing, but this new hotel in London is nevertheless très agréable.
Let me explain. I’m in a French-owned hotel, with a French name, mostly French staff, a bar full of wines from the owners’ Loire Valley chateau and a classic continental breakfast served in the French basement cafe. The hotel’s renowned designer, Fabrizio Casiraghi (currently working on the Vatican’s Four Seasons), envisioned a backstory for the look he’s created: a private house for an English gentleman married to a downright cruel wife. But that’s all too confusing, because there’s not much relation between the story and the name of the hotel, which I think conjures something very different.
Here, at the Grand Hotel Bellevue, with its dark sober furniture, its Persian-style rugs and flower-streaked carpets, I feel that I am somewhere in the 19th century, in crinolines, in a significant hotel in a French provincial town. that could be described on the pages of Flaubert, Balzac or Maupassant.
Except, of course, I’m not in France at all. In fact I am very close to Paddington Station, in a garden square full of two-star divers. See what I mean by confused? But if you decide to give this new address in London a try, I hope you won’t regret it – I didn’t. First, it’s really affordable, and it’s beautifully designed and incredibly diverse. And Paddington is improving fast: Renzo Piano’s cube-shaped Paddington Square retail and restaurant development is now almost complete, and the area is definitely on the rise.
The two townhouses next to the hotel are beautifully connected. The handsome burnt orange reception room has black lacquered furnishings, including shelves adorned with glass jars filled with jewel-like sweets. The cute bar has a beautiful fabric wall covering created in collaboration with American fashion designer Emily Bode, illustrated with hand-stitched motifs from India (tiger; Mughal emperor on horseback). Botticelli inspires that flower carpet on stairs and corridors; the gym, with its mahogany shaving machines, is the first I thought of using in a hotel (more like torture chambers, I think).
The Grand Hotel Bellevue has 60 bedrooms and some of them are tiny, but so smartly done that I almost wish I was sleeping in one of the double Cabins, where my dream of being in a 19th century French provincial hotel melted away. century, to be replaced. the feeling of being on a vintage passenger ship. The high, deep bed set under the muslin-curtained window looked so inviting, beneath which there was space for a wardrobe as well as a carefully stocked mini-bar. On the wall, there were rails for hanging clothes, a rack for shoes and a shelf. The bathrooms are beautifully tiled throughout the hotel, with elegant basins and oval wood-framed mirrors above.
If you want more space, choose the Norfolk Suite on the first floor, which is not only large, but the only room with a bath (copper) as well as a shower, with beautiful views of the neat community garden. With a medieval tapestry wall hanging, my life still in an elaborate frame and a strip of glass-fronted wardrobe, sheer curtains in the entrance hall, I remained cheerfully transported to another, more dignified age.
I was expecting a restaurant. Call the Grand Bellevue hotel, and scenes of white linen tablecloths and a menu du jour spring to mind. But it’s just the cafe and the bar. The French manager, Yannis Badakian, and his team must know where to direct guests for dinner in the neighborhood; luckily, they do.
The end of the French fantasy: in contrast to the Grand Hotel Bellevue, the Victoria, the historic 19th-century pub Fuller’s nearby, is firmly British. “The best fish and chips I’ve ever had,” declared my friend Bob, as we sat happily in the ornate dining room on the first floor, a Victorian treasure.
The next morning, at breakfast, I was back in La Belle France. A perfect Gallic spread was laid out in front of me: a basket of croissants, crusty bread and pastries, including a homemade madeleine; yogurt with berries and granola; hazelnuts, cranberries, raisins; a selection of cheeses; cold meat; rich, velvety coffee. Eggs, bacon and sausage are available to order for those who need them.
See what I mean about the Grand Hotel Bellevue? Très perturbant, but I liked being there.
Fundamentals
Doubles at Grand Hotel Bellevue (020 3089 2527; grandhotelbellevuelondon.com) cost from £224; breakfast £24pp.
