Corbin & King at our Mayfair round table
We are delighted to welcome renowned restaurateur, Jeremy King, to our second research Mayfair round table this week.
Jeremy is famous along with his business partner Chris Corbin for acquiring, creating and running some of London's best-loved and most successful restaurants. These include Le Caprice, J Sheekey, The Ivy and their current portfolio which is made up of The Delaunay, Brasserie Zedel, Fischer's in Marylebone High Street, and Bellanger in Islington. The Beaumont in Brown Hart Gardens, Mayfair, is their first hotel.
In partnership with Grosvenor Estates, Corbin & King re-purposed a Grade 2 listed art deco building which had housed garages and Avis Rent-a-car offices into the five star Beaumont Hotel. Architects Reardon Smith removed the interior structure behind the retained façade, while creating two additional floors on the roof. The interior design of the hotel by Fiona Thompson of Richmond, evokes the elegance of pre-war Mayfair and includes a Turkish Bath. An 'inhabitable sculpture' in which you can stay as a hotel guest, was created by Sir Anthony Gormley and sits above the hotel's south wing.
Grosvenor wanted to develop a hotel rather than a residential scheme supporting its long-term place-making strategy and creating a destination in North Mayfair. The Beaumont overlooks the renovated Brown Hart Gardens where regular events are held including a fortnightly food market.
(Our photograph of Brown Hart Gardens looks east to Alfred Waterhouse's King's Weigh House Chapel (now the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral) with Peabody's Chesham Buildings on right of picture.)
Grosvenor says it is determined to re-establish the area as a creative district with a host of new shops, galleries, restaurants and hotels, while retaining the homes of a diverse community of around 3,500 people.
Peabody's Chief Executive, Brendan Sarsfield, will speak at our Future Cities Forum in May about the commitment from the Duke of Westminster to preserve social housing in the area.