Brown's Hotel, London

21 October 2015

Words: Mark Evans / Images: Brown’s Hotel

If there were a checklist for ‘the quintessential London hotel’, Brown’s Hotel would confidently tick them all off. Location? The heart of Mayfair. History? 178 years and counting. Celebrity restaurant? The Hix Mayfair, with much-vaunted chef Mark Hix at the helm.

But that flippancy doesn’t do the old girl justice. Brown’s is a beautiful hotel, its magnificent Victorian exterior resplendent against a line of equally impressive neighbours. Delve into that 178-year history and you’ll discover a who’s who of impressive guests and former residents: Alexander Graham Bell made the first phone call here, Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book here, Roosevelt stayed, Conan Doyle stayed, Stevenson, Barrie and Stoker stayed… it positively bristles with history.

Yet inside it also achieves a contemporary feel – Brown’s underwent a US$37 million refurbishment in 2005 – and avoids the stuffiness of some of its illustrious counterparts. The result is arguably one London’s finest hotels, regardless of how you choose to measure it.

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