D&D London, the restaurant group led by Des Gunewardena, will open its first hotel, the 80-bedroom South Place Hotel close to London’s Moorgate rail and tube station this September.
South Place is thought to be the first of at least a dozen boutique hotels in major cities the group, which has hired Rothschild, the investment bank, to advise on the sale of founder Sir Terence Conran’s majority stake, aims to open over the next five to 10 years.
Housed within a former office building on South Place, the new hotel will also feature two restaurants and three bars.
The hotel, which will feature Conran-designed interiors and works by local artists, will house the Angler restaurant on the seventh floor, that will focus on “seafood and shellfish from across the British Isles”, and will feature a private dining room with views of the Gherkin, and a rooftop terrace.
Other facilities will include 3 South Place restaurant and bar on the ground floor, a first floor “secret garden”, meeting rooms named after “classic spies and secret agents”, a gym, and a residents’ games room with events including Sunday Cinema sessions and curated music nights.
Bruce Robertson, general manager of South Place Hotel, said: “South Place Hotel is a hotel created by restaurateurs. It is as much about meet and eat as sleep. It also derives its inspiration from many of the things that make London buzz: cultural diversity, local neighbourhoods, understated wit and an easy sense of self. Whilst we will formally launch in September, we plan to open our restaurants and bars and to offer some previews and special events in time for the Olympics.”
