There’s a moment, walking up to The Beaumont Mayfair, when London becomes exciting. The building itself does a lot of the work, grand and monochrome, Union Jack flags out front, genuinely pretty against the quiet of Brown Hart Gardens. The doormen were already smiling before I’d even got out of the car and they just quietly looked after you from the moment you arrived.
Inside, the reception staff were just as warm. To the left, Le Magritte Bar and a small lobby area, intimate, Art Deco, almost New York in feel, the kind of spot where you can sit down, catch your breath after travelling, order a good coffee and meet a friend. Nothing was rushed about it and it’s no surprise the hotel was voted the number one hotel in London by Condé Nast Traveller readers last year, that warmth is there from the second you walk in. CEO Stuart Procter has built a career on precisely this kind of hospitality. He started at the Stafford London as general manager back in 2006, before co-founding GG Hospitality with Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville, spending five years building out the Hotel Football and Café Football concepts in Manchester. He returned to the Stafford in 2015, eventually becoming COO of the wider Stafford Collection, overseeing the Stafford itself, Northcote in Lancashire, and the restaurant Norma, before joining The Beaumont Mayfair. It’s that grounding across such varied projects that shows up here, the sense that the hotel is run by someone who understands service first, with the design working in support of it rather than the other way around.
Walking down the corridor toward the lift, I clocked a run of crystal vases along the way, a small thing, but it stuck with me. It set the tone, warm, like somebody’s home, but unmistakably high-end.
I was staying in the Mayfair Suite, and it did not disappoint. Dark wood throughout, arched detailing on the walls, a fruit bowl waiting for me, and a bottle of Billecart-Salmon Champagne, a lovely little welcome gift. The living area had its own study, with proper bookshelves, books on the history and geography of London. I picked one up and it turned out to be from the early 1900s, originally gifted to a girl from a London girls’ school. That kind of detail, actual history sitting on a shelf in your room, is what made the whole stay feel less like checking into a hotel and more like stepping into a story that had already been going for a hundred years.
The bathroom was marble, with both a bath and a shower, I always appreciate a hotel that gives you the choice rather than forcing one or the other. There were scented bath salts too, which made for a genuinely relaxing soak. The views were beautiful, and the whole suite had a cosiness to it that felt more like a home than a hotel room, ideal if you’ve travelled a long way, from the US or Europe, and want somewhere that actually feels like a place to relax and enjoy.
That sense of British heritage runs through the whole hotel. It’s there in the location, right by some of London’s best restaurants and bars, and it’s there in the Art Deco architecture itself, down to the public bathrooms, which have images of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn on the walls.
For dinner, I went to Rosi, led by chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen. It was a wonderful meal, candlelight, fresh flowers, lighting that came into its own once evening set in. Two of my dishes were prepared tableside, including a flambé, which is always a nice bit of theatre with dinner. The wine list was strong, the desserts excellent, and there’s something to be said for being able to eat that well without leaving the hotel you’re staying in. Goodwin-Allen is now also Culinary Director across the hotel, and she’s about to launch Pearl Mayfair, a new all-day restaurant and terrace opening this September in Brown Hart Gardens, leaning into Mediterranean small plates and Riviera-style outdoor dining. Given how good Rosi already is, it’s one to watch.
By the time I left, I understood why The Beaumont keeps winning the crowd it does. It’s not the loudest hotel in Mayfair, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s the one that makes you feel like you’ve been let in on something, a bit of London history, a bit of glamour and a touch of somebody’s private world, handed to you for a few days. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
By Natalia Ramalho
Balderton Street & Brown Hart Gardens, London W1K 6TF
Photography: The Beaumont
The Luxe Resident 