London's High-End Hotel War Heats Up

Brown's Hotel

Brown's, in exclusive Mayfair, was unknown to me, though my London-born wife, Georgina, stayed there back in the day. She was delighted by the recent $36 million transformation of Brown's by British hotelier Sir Rocco Forte.

Sir Rocco -- teaming up with his sister, designer Olga Polizzi -- has brushed the dust off the hotel's public spaces and modernized the guest rooms. London's oldest hotel, Brown's opened in 1837.

Polizzi displays a keen eye in the spacious English Tea Room off the small hotel lobby, keeping the wood paneling but adding lighting fixtures of assorted colors and shapes and lightening the room's color palette. It's tricky to mix tradition with innovation, but Polizzi has pulled it off.

Just past the tea room is Brown's intimate and comfortable Donovan Bar. Its walls festooned with British photographer Terence Donovan's evocative, black and white images of London, the Donovan Bar pours a proper martini with Britain's own aromatic Hendrick's gin and features live jazz every night save Sundays.

Guest rooms at Brown's are large by London standards.

Guest rooms at Brown's are large, for London, where hotel rooms tend to be, shall we say, rather cozy. The beds are blessedly sleep-worthy, armchairs and couches are modern in style without being overly sculptural and thus uncomfortable, and the windows overlooking busy Abermarle Street provide silent relief from the bustle outside -- a relative rarity even in luxury hotels.