Cigars Will Be Back in Style in a Major Way at The Wellesley London

Where: 11 Knightsbridge, London, United Kingdom

June 28, 2012 at 11:19 AM | by JasonD | Comments (0)

With the flood of new hotels that have opened, are in the process of opening, and will open in the next few years in London, the transformation of a relatively small building in Knightsbridge into The Wellesley Hotel was almost a little under the radar when we first spotted signs nearly two years ago.

While small in size (only 36 rooms and suites), The Wellesley is intent on making its mark on the city's hotel scene, even back in the day when we reported on its objective to become London's first 6-star hotel. With the hotel website being very light on details, we didn't know a lot more at the time than that it would feature London's largest suite, a restaurant called Opal, a Jazz room, Crystal bar, and interestingly, a Cigar Lounge and Terrace with the UK's largest humidor.

Luckily, with opening scheduled for November 2012, the website now features a bit more information, as well as some idea of what the interior will look like.

We're intrigued by the heated cigar terrace and "one of the largest collections of cigars sold on a stick-by-stick basis" at the Cigar Lounge. If you like your cigar with a drink, there will be a specialist Whiskey and Cognac wall, in addition to wines, spirits, and cocktails in the Crystal Bar. For a bit of mood music, the Jazz room will host "both established and up-and-coming acts".

Retiring for the night you will be able to do on one of six floors, with the top floor housing the aforementioned largest suite in London. Consisting of four bedrooms, boardroom facilities, and a private lift, the suite will feature not one, but two private humidors with a dedicated selection for cigar enthusiasts.

Having never touched so much as a cigarette ourselves, this wouldn't perhaps be a major selling point for us, but we can imagine there are plenty of potential hotel guests out there that are tired of all the non-smoking, hypo-allergenic rooms these days, banishing them to less-than-sophisticated sidewalks in most cases.

We do like the artist impression of the main hallway, which seems to cut right through the building from the main entrance, with its wide colonnades and interesting light fixtures. Images of the rooms also look to be sufficiently luxe, but we'll have to wait for actual pictures and / or seeing it with our own eyes to get to a more informed opinion there.

Who will win the battle in the new small luxury suite hotel game in London: The Wellesley or The Mercer? Time will tell!

[Images: The Wellesley]

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