Room With A View: Hotel Café Royal, London

​A stay at the Hotel Café Royal in London may be less sedate than you had imagined. Floating majestically above the bustle of Regent Street in London is a tranquil haven, the Hotel Café Royal. The building the hotel occupies has been something of a landmark in Piccadilly since it was erected in the 19th century. Its huge copper dome and the flags fluttering proudly from its façade make the building a landmark still.

On the top floor of the Hotel Café Royal is the Dome Penthouse, covering some 291 square metres. From its open terrace, pause to look down on the hectic street scene below. Back inside you’ll notice the master suite is circular. There are two other bedrooms, but the most striking element of the decoration of the sleeping quarters is the fumed English oak. Attached to the master suite and bedrooms are bathrooms tricked out with Carrara marble.

All this retro elegance is married with the most newly fangled manifestations of modern technology: a sound system with concert speakers that a DJ would approve of and illumination of the dome in LED lights. 

It is a subtle reminder that appearances can be deceptive.  The Dome Penthouse can be a tranquil haven but it is also the place to party, which is part of the hotel’s story.

In the hotel below, the Oscar Wilde Bar was once known as the Grill Room of the Café Royal, the establishment that occupied the building before it was a hotel. The Café Royal was inhabited by some of the most entertaining humans ever to walk the planet. Irish author Wilde was one. It was in the Café Royal that he fell in love with British author Lord Alfred Douglas. More recently David Bowie staged his last Ziggy Stardust performance in the Café Royal. Mick Jagger, The Beatles and Elizabeth Taylor were also regulars. If only walls could talk.

Hotel Café Royal, 68 Regent Street, London, +442074063333​
www.hotelcaferoyal.com