All good hotels should take their guests on a “journey” and if the hotel has a theme it should come off perfectly. I found the theming confusing at the Grand Hotel Bellevue, but this new London hotel is still very nice.
Let me explain. I’m in a French-owned hotel with a French name, mostly French staff, a bar stocked with wine from the owners’ Loire Valley chateau, and a classic continental breakfast served in a French basement café. The hotel’s famed designer, Fabrizio Casiraghi (who now works at the Four Seasons Vatican City), I am told, imagined the backdrop for his creation: the private home of a British aristocrat married to an eccentric, world-traveling wife. But this is completely confusing because the story has little to do with the name of the hotel, which to me suggests something very different.
Here, at the Grand Hotel Bellevue, with its dark, simple furniture, Persian rugs and flower-covered carpets, I feel like I’m somewhere in the 19th century, dressed in crinolines, at an elegant hotel in a large French provincial town. This is something that can be described in the pages of Flaubert, Balzac or Maupassant.
Of course I’m not in France. I’m actually extremely close to Paddington Station, in a garden square full of two-star dives. See what I mean by confusing? But if you decide to try this new London address, I hope you won’t regret it, and neither did I. For starters, it’s actually affordable, plus it’s beautifully designed and refreshingly different. And Paddington is developing rapidly: Renzo Piano’s dazzling cube-shaped Paddington Square retail and restaurant development next to the station is now almost complete and the area is certainly on the rise.
There are some nice touches in the two adjoining townhouses that make up the hotel. The handsome, burnt orange reception room features black lacquered flooring, including shelves adorned with glass jars filled with jewel-like sweets. The cute bar has a beautiful fabric wallcovering created in collaboration with American fashion designer Emily Bode and illustrated with hand-stitched India-inspired motifs (a tiger; a Mughal emperor on horseback). The flower-covered carpet on the stairs and corridors takes its inspiration from Botticelli; The fitness room, with its mahogany-covered machines, is the first room I would consider using in a hotel (to me, most of them look like torture rooms).
The Grand Hotel Bellevue has 60 bedrooms, some very small, but so cleverly designed that I almost wished I could sleep in one of the double cabins, where my fantasy of being in a 19th-century French provincial hotel had melted away and been replaced by a new luxury hotel. The feeling of being on an old cruise ship. The high, deep bed, hidden under the muslin-curtained window, looked very inviting and had room underneath for suitcases as well as a neatly stocked minibar. There were hanging rails on the wall to hang clothes, a shelf for shoes, and a shelf. Bathrooms throughout the hotel are beautifully appointed with stylish sinks and wooden-framed oval mirrors.
If you want more space, opt for the first-floor Norfolk Suite, which is not only large but also the only room with a (copper) bathroom and shower and a beautiful view of the tidy shared garden. With a medieval-style tapestry wall hanging, a still life in an elaborate frame, and glass-fronted, mesh-curtained wardrobes in the entry hall, I remained pleasantly transported to another, more dignified era.
I was expecting a restaurant. Call the Grand Bellevue hotel and find white linen tablecloths and menu of the day Spring comes to my mind. But there is only a cafe and a bar. French coach Yannis Badakian and his team need to know where to direct guests in the neighborhood for dinner; Luckily they do.
The end of the French fantasy: Unlike the Grand Hotel Bellevue, the nearby Victoria, the historic 19th-century Fuller’s pub, is decidedly British. “Best fish and chips I’ve ever had,” said my friend Bob, as we happily muddled through the ornately paneled dining room on the first floor, a Victorian treasure.
The next morning I returned to La Belle France for breakfast. A perfect Gallic meal was laid out before me: a basket of croissants, crusty bread and pastries, including homemade madeleines; yogurt with berries and granola; hazelnuts, cranberries, raisins; various cheeses; cold cuts; rich, velvety coffee. Eggs, bacon and sausage can be ordered for the must-haves.
See what I mean about Grand Hotel Bellevue? It was very uncomfortable, but I enjoyed being there.
Fundamentals
Double rooms at Grand Hotel Bellevue (020 3089 2527; grandhotelbellevuelondon.com) start from £224; breakfast £24 per person.