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Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in
Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
". Claridge's Hotel is owned and managed by
Maybourne Hotel Group Maybourne Hotel Group is a Qatari-owned British luxury hotel operator, which owns and manages The Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London. History and Background The Maybourne Hotel Group, formerly The Savoy Hotel Group has been ...
.


History


Founding

Claridge's was founded in 1812 as Mivart's Hotel, in a conventional London terraced house, and it grew by expanding into neighbouring houses. In 1854, the founder (the father of biologist
St. George Jackson Mivart St. George Jackson Mivart (30 November 1827 – 1 April 1900) was an English biologist. He is famous for starting as an ardent believer in natural selection who later became one of its fiercest critics. Mivart attempted to reconcile D ...
) sold the hotel to a Mr and Mrs Claridge, who owned a smaller hotel next door. They combined the two operations, and after trading for a time as "Mivart's late Claridge's", they settled on the current name. The reputation of the hotel was confirmed in 1860 when
Empress Eugenie An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( e ...
made an extended visit and entertained Queen Victoria at the hotel. In its first edition of 1878, Baedeker's London listed Claridge's as "The first hotel in London".


Acquisitions

Richard D'Oyly Carte, the theatrical impresario and founder of the rival Savoy Hotel, purchased Claridge's in 1894, as part of The Savoy Group, and shortly afterwards demolished the old buildings and replaced them with the present ones. This was prompted by the need to install modern facilities such as lifts and en suite bathrooms. From 1894 to 1901,
Édouard Nignon Édouard Nignon (; 9 November 1865, Nantes - 30 October 1934, Bréal-sous-Montfort) was a French chef and writer of cookbooks. Life One of eight children of a day laborer and a seamstress, Nignon became an apprentice at Cambronne Restaurant ...
was the hotel chef.


Restructure

The new Claridge's, built by George Trollope & Sons, opened in 1897. It is a Grade II listed building. The hotel has 203 rooms and suites and around 400 staff. After the First World War, Claridge's flourished due to demand from aristocrats who no longer maintained a London house, and under the leadership of Carte's son, Rupert D'Oyly Carte, an extension was built in the 1920s. During the Second World War it was the base of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's government in exile and home of
Peter II of Yugoslavia Peter II ( sr-Cyrl, Петар II Карађорђевић, Petar II Karađorđević; 6 September 1923 – 3 November 1970) was the last king of Yugoslavia, reigning from October 1934 until his deposition in November 1945. He was the last r ...
. He and his wife spent much of the Second World War in exile at Claridge's, and suite 212 was supposedly ceded by the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia for a single day (17 July 1945) to allow their heir, Crown Prince Alexander, to be born on Yugoslav soil, although no documentary evidence now exists to support the story. The prince and his family are regular return guests. At the end of the Second World War, when unexpectedly defeated in the general election of 1945,
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
was temporarily without a London home and took a suite at Claridge's. In December 1951, West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer secretly met World Jewish Congress president Nahum Goldmann at Claridge's to begin negotiations on German reparations to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.


Clients

Well-known actors, directors, and entertainers who have used Claridge's include Cary Grant,
Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...
, regular visitor
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
,
Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
, Joan Collins, Mick Jagger, U2 and Whitney Houston. In his memoir ''
The Moon's a Balloon ''The Moon's a Balloon'' is a best-selling memoir by British actor David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for hi ...
'' David Niven wrote that for film producer Alexander Korda, "Home was the penthouse at Claridge's". The hotel lobby and several guestrooms appear in the 2001
Stephen Poliakoff Stephen Poliakoff (born 1 December 1952) is a British playwright, director and screenwriter. In 2006 Gerard Gilbert of ''The Independent'' described him as the UK's "pre-eminent TV dramatist" who had "inherited Dennis Potter's crown". Early ...
's BBC television drama '' Perfect Strangers''. Claridge's is known for hosting visiting royalty and guests of the
Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
. The late King Hassan of Morocco was known to travel with his own mattress, but at the hotel he used a Savoy Mattress. Impressed by the quality, he ordered 24 identical mattresses from the Savoy for his
palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
.
Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...
famously stayed at the hotel having been delayed on Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge. In 1998, the group of hotels—along with the later-added Connaught—was sold for $867 million to two American private-equity funds, Blackstone and Colony Capital.Dana Vachon (August 2014)
To Capture Claridge’s
'' Vanity Fair''.
In 2004, they both retained Deutsche Bank to sell The Savoy Group, including Claridge's, to a group of Irish investors, which eventually sold the Savoy Hotel and Savoy Theatre and renamed the group
Maybourne Hotel Group Maybourne Hotel Group is a Qatari-owned British luxury hotel operator, which owns and manages The Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London. History and Background The Maybourne Hotel Group, formerly The Savoy Hotel Group has been ...
. In 2007, Claridge's gained worldwide media coverage by introducing a Water Menu containing bottled waters sourced globally and from the United Kingdom, such as Malmberg and Iskilde. The
Maybourne Hotel Group Maybourne Hotel Group is a Qatari-owned British luxury hotel operator, which owns and manages The Berkeley, Claridge's and The Connaught hotels in London. History and Background The Maybourne Hotel Group, formerly The Savoy Hotel Group has been ...
includes two other five-star luxury hotels in London, The Berkeley and The Connaught.


Restaurants and other facilities

In 2014, Claridge's replaced Gordon Ramsay's restaurant (see below) with Fera at Claridge's which closed in 2018. Fera was run by Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan, who previously ran
L'Enclume L'Enclume (, French for "the anvil") is a restaurant opened in 2002 in Cartmel, Cumbria, England, run by chef Simon Rogan and his partner Penny Tapsell. L'Enclume received a rating of 10 out of 10 five times in the ''Good Food Guide'' and name ...
in Cumbria, England. In March 2015, Fera was named in '' The Observer'' as one of its best places that month. Fera earned a Michelin star, one of 14 restaurants in the UK to do so in 2015. For twelve years, the fine dining main restaurant was run by
Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British chef, restaurateur, television personality and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall; it currently holds a tot ...
, with head chef Steve Allen who replaced
Mark Sargeant Mark Sargeant (born August 1973) is an English chef and restaurateur from Larkfield, Kent. Early life Born in Kent, Sargeant grew up in Larkfield, Kent and attended Oakwood Park Grammar School in Maidstone. From an early age, Sargeant's i ...
. Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's lost its Michelin status in January 2010 and closed in 2013 following Ramsay's withdrawal from renewal negotiations with the hotel.
Michelin Michelin (; ; full name: ) is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ''région'' of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and la ...
-starred Northern Irish chef Michael Deane started his career at the restaurant. Claridge's offers afternoon tea and has been endorsed by the Tea Guild. Claridge's has two ground floor bars: a main bar and a former
cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
bar known as The Fumoir. The smoking ban in England has caused The Fumoir to stop selling cigars. From 28 July to 6 August 2012, the hotel hosted a ten-day pop-up restaurant by two-Michelin-starred
New Nordic Cuisine New Nordic Cuisine ( da, Det nye nordiske køkken, sv, Det nya nordiska köket, no, Det nye nordiske kjøkken, fi, Uusi pohjoismainen keittiö) is a culinary movement which has been developed in the Nordic countries, and Scandinavia in parti ...
Noma Noma, NoMa, or NOMA may refer to: Places * NoMa, the area North of Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., US ** NoMa–Gallaudet U station, on Washington Metro * Noma, Florida, US * NOMA, Manchester, a redevelopment in England * Noma Distr ...
, while the restaurant in Copenhagen was closed from 22 July to 13 August for refurbishment. Owner and founder René Redzepi with head chef Matt Orlanda and staff from the restaurant served a £195-per-head nine-course menu that included their take on scones and clotted cream, Lancashire hotpot with British ingredients, and live ants foraged in Denmark and flown to London.


Christmas tree

Claridge's does a
Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...
display: usually by someone in the fashion industry such as John Galliano and Kally Ellis. In 2015 the tree was designed by Christopher Bailey, made up of around 100 umbrellas, with 77,000 individual lights that were triggered by people walking past.


See also

* ''
Inside Claridge's ''Inside Claridge's'' is a British documentary television series that first broadcast on BBC Two on 3 December 2012. The final episode aired on 17 December 2012. The series documented a year behind the scenes of Claridge's, a five-star hotel loc ...
'' (British documentary television series)


References


External links


Hotel's website
* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Mayfair Hotels in the City of Westminster Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster Art Deco architecture in London Hotel buildings completed in 1812 Hotels established in 1812 Yugoslavia in World War II 1812 establishments in England Buildings by C. W. Stephens