HotelChatter

Tags: Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Renovations / London Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Historic Hotels / → All Tags

Landmark London's Hip New Bar Keeps It a Bit Too Old-Fashioned

Where: 222 Marylebone Road, London, United Kingdom, NW1 6JQ

We've been wondering for the past couple of years why London appeared to have turned into a building site, and now the answer's clear: because every hotel in the capital seems to be going through a refurb, and every other landowner appears to be building a hotel.

The latest to unveil its new wares is the Landmark. It's spent £1m re-doing its restaurant and bar, and it opens tomorrow.

While the name has been sexed up (Cellars Restaurant has become the down-with-the-kids twotwentytwo), they've kept some of the original fittings — oak paneling and antique fireplaces — but, by the looks of things, tarted it up with chandeliers that look like jellyfish and rather dapper armchairs.

What we really like the sound of is the "Wine Library": a display case of wine running down one side of the bar. What we're less keen on is the sound of the cocktail menu which divides drinks up into those suitable "for him" and "for her." Chaps, we know you're a historic hotel and all, but some of us ladies like to choose our own drinks these days. Next thing we know, you'll be enforcing a dress code of tweed-n-pearls. And, um, no thanks.