Claridge’s
TO WRITE ABOUT CLARIDGE’S is a tall order. How can I do justice to a place I love so well? Defying superlatives, this grandest of all grand hotels exists on a plane of perfection other establishments strive but fail to reach. Upholding standards of elegance that have little to do with the quotidian concerns of the 21st century, a trip to Claridge’s is a trip to the anteroom of Heaven.
Fusing flamboyant Neo-Baroque with iconic Art Deco, the public spaces shimmer with crystal, marble, silver-gilt and engraved glass. Whatever there is that’s hard-edged and brittle is softened and made welcoming by artful lighting and a springlike colour scheme of dusty green and sunny yellow. There’s a warmth to the ambience that the exceptional – above all, personal – service lives up to. One senses that those who work here have fallen under the spell of Claridge’s as completely as any of its besotted guests, who, in their time, have included everybody from Jackie O to Cary Grant. If you’re visiting for drinks, make for the legendary Claridge’s Bar, which is a glamorous throwback to the days when the new-fangled cocktail brought a smile to the face of Jazz Age London. If you’re staying for dinner, the food in the Michelin-starred Davies and Brook can honestly be described as transcendent.
It’s pointless to pretend there’s anywhere in London quite like Claridge’s. There isn’t.
See also: Brown’s Hotel, The Connaught, Dukes
