Hot spots: Ham Yard Hotel London
Giovanna Dunmall
Constructed around a previously dilapidated, inaccessible square in the heart of buzzy Soho, the new-build property is part hotel, part residential block. The square is now tree-lined, open to the public and filled with tables, benches and independent boutiques.
It really is. The hotel, which opened in June, is a crazy melange of colours, textures, materials and art. Thick marble windows imported from India line one of the restaurant walls; a mesmerising black-and-white clock installation stands opposite the lifts; a sculptural 30-foot tall orange squeezer takes pride of place in the downstairs bar; and a miniature statue of the queen in the library (below) waves whenever the sun hits her. Every object has a story to tell and gives the space it occupies character.
Er, no. There's a spa, a gym and a hypoxic chamber (if you must ask, that's an enclosed space that mimics higher altitude by lowering the oxygen content in the surrounding air), a large restaurant and bar with outdoor seating, a 188-seat theatre that doubles up as a cinema (with regular film nights open to the public), a library lined with books on art, literature, history and politics and an exceptional - and unique for London - lush and leafy fourth-floor terrace with sofas, a stone fountain, apple and pear trees, a herb and vegetable garden and expansive views over the capital's ever-changing skyline. The area downstairs is set aside for private events, but the lounge bar can be used by guests, too, and is an eye-popping treat, with a vintage 1950s bowling alley (top) imported from Texas (replete with hand heaters), bold and beautiful multichromatic Howard Hodgkin artwork on one wall and a dance floor with three-metre-long driftwood crocodiles on a 3-D-effect wall. If all that doesn't keep you occupied, hundreds of the city's best restaurants, bars and clubs, as well as Chinatown, are on your doorstep. Nowhere else does Samuel Johnson's famous line - "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life" - seem more apt.
No, but they are spacious and perfectly conceived. The beds are massive and comfortable, the bathrooms are clad in marble, with in-built televisions over the tubs, and the walls, sofas and bed headboards are lined in bold and clashing fabrics (I know! But somehow it all works). There are framed artworks on the walls and floor-to-ceiling windows in every room; a nice touch, assuming privacy isn't your thing. Given that rooms (above) overlook offices and apartments, some lightweight screening curtains (on top of the heavy bedroom curtains and rather awkward outsized blinds) wouldn't go amiss.
The food - for example, seared scallops with crushed peas and a tempura courgette flower, gazpacho, sea trout with lentils, fennel and watercress and roast duck with artichokes, aubergine and feta - is fine but not exceptional, and nowhere near as interesting as the surroundings. Some of the starters are on the small size, the preparation and presentation of the food is surprisingly basic and unremarkable and the service is both faltering and overeager. Much of this is undoubtedly teething pains but the hotel would do well to up its game in the food arena, given how many world-class restaurants surround it. On a more positive note, the drinks list is memorable, the gin-based Rhubarb Daisy and Ham Yard tonic being particularly moreish.
