The Peninsula London

The Peninsula London opened its doors to paying guests on 12 September 2023, placing the Hong Kong-based group's first purpose-built hotel on a site facing Wellington Arch that the family-run company spent decades pursuing. Built from the ground up rather than converted from an existing building, the 190-room property cost more than £1 billion and arrived as the most expensive hotel opening London had seen.

The place

The hotel occupies a full block in Belgravia, at Hyde Park Corner, facing Wellington Arch and within sight of Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. The location puts guests a short walk from the Knightsbridge department stores and Mayfair, while the immediate surroundings remain residential and comparatively quiet for central London. Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, the family business behind the Peninsula group, reportedly searched for a London site for several decades before securing this one, and the choice of a corner this visible to royal and diplomatic London was central to the project from the start.

The concept

The Peninsula London is the group's twelfth property and its first hotel built specifically as a hotel rather than adapted from an existing structure, a distinction the company has made a point of in describing the project. The building was designed by British firm Hopkins Architects, whose four-square plan — with a central courtyard, streets on two sides and a form drawing loosely on Rome's Palazzo Farnese — was conceived to sit comfortably among Belgravia's Georgian terraces rather than announce itself as a new arrival. Interiors are by Peter Marino, working on his first hotel in Britain, who paired his own contemporary vocabulary with references to English country houses and the Peninsula group's Asian heritage; food and beverage spaces were designed separately by Archer Humphryes and CAP Atelier. The 190 rooms and suites start at around 50 square metres, notably larger than the London luxury-hotel norm, and are finished with mahogany-panelled dressing rooms, onyx bathrooms and original artwork, many looking directly onto Wellington Arch. A separate wing holds 24 branded Peninsula Residences. The project also leaned on British craft partnerships — Royal Drawing School artists, couturier Jenny Packham and perfumer Timothy Han among them — and, in keeping with Peninsula tradition, the hotel runs its own fleet of Rolls-Royces, including a restored 1935 model, for guest use.

Dining & wellness

Dining is anchored by Brooklands, a rooftop Modern British restaurant from Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi, styled around the motor-racing history of the Brooklands circuit. Canton Blue and the adjoining Little Blue serve Cantonese-rooted Chinese cuisine, while The Lobby handles all-day dining and the hotel's afternoon tea. A Peninsula Boutique and café offer a more casual option. The Peninsula Spa and Wellness Centre, added a few months after the September opening, includes a 25-metre indoor pool and a fitness studio, and the hotel's St. George Ballroom provides pillarless event space for up to 450 guests.