If influencers attract others of that breed, The Beaumont is key in London. Last week it seemed every one of the six front-of-hotel tables now permanently serving food, drink – and faultless fastest-speed free connectivity – was taken.The key influencer of The Beaumont is the boss, Managing Director Duncan Palmer, whom many remember from earlier days in London, and then when he opened The Murray in Hong Kong.Just as many Australians gravitate in Paris to Le Bristol partly because of Luca Allegri, and his Vancouver-Island co-star Leah Marshall, so they will, when borders allow, make for The Beaumont when in London.
The 72-room hotel still has its signature Antony Gormley ROOM, though my favourite remains #505, the 169 sqm Roosevelt Suite, with a terrace big enough to dine as a sextet while looking east over historic Brown Hart Gardens, owned, like The Beaumont, by Grosvenor Estate. In two years‘ time, incidentally, there will be an additional 31 bedrooms, behind the current building.
What is already new, since my last visit, is, named for its instantly-recognisable painting, an intimate Magritte Bar, a club-like cosy meeting place off the front lobby. The rear lobby has been themed as Gatsby’s Room, with suitable Roaring Twenties photos. Go through to Colony Grill, with the reliable acoustics that captains of industry in serious discussions appreciate. Lighting has been subtly tuned throughout the entire public area and, to great acclaim, you can order whatever you like from a variety of menus, to be served wherever. You can even have food-to-go, a picnic to take south to Grosvenor Square, seven minutes’ walk away – the same distance from Selfridge’s, to the north (the Beaumont started its life as Macy’s car depot for that department store).
The Beaumont offers action-packed life. Get now on its mailing list, to sign up virtually for brilliantly entertaining literary events which have included articulate investigative writer Eliot Higgins, founder of intelligence agency Bellingcat talking about some of its scoops: it was Bellingcat that unmasked the alleged perpetrators of Salisbury’s Novichok attack. Next event, on 5th October, 2021, features comedy and drama writer Georgia Pritchett talking about her forthcoming book, My Mess Is a Bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety. Invitations, as always, arrive not from an anonymous computer-generated source but, personally, from that great influencer, Duncan Palmer.Mary Gostelow publishes the daily girlahead.com and a unique weekly 15-minute industry Mary Gostelow Girlahead Podcast, both part of Almont Global.
