Not so long ago, the streets between Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square were clogged with matinee hordes tackling the city on fifty dollars a day. Now the area is the West End's most talked-about drama. Flush with polish and prosperous snap, its refurbished hotels and theaters and buzzing new restaurants are the latest dazzling manifestations of London's dollar-busting financial boom. It even has a cutesy nickname: SoPic.
Headlining the revival is the Haymarket Hotel (double rooms from $505; 1 Suffolk Place; 800-553-6674; haymarkethotel.com), three 1820s four-story town houses designed by Buckingham Palace co-architect John Nash that husband-and-wife hoteliers Tim and Kit Kemp spent three years and $40 million restoring. Like its sister properties, the Soho Hotel and the Charlotte Street Hotel, the Haymarket is a chic blend of preservation and innovation. Inlaid mosaics of black-and-gray river stones by Sue Lawty, artist in residence at the Victoria Albert Museum, adorn the walls of its lobby. The individually decorated rooms have large neoclassical windows; some walls are splashed with acid green and hot pink, others have turquoise and white stripes. My favorite touch: Martin Richman's monumental light sculpture twinkling above the basement pool and lounge.
Brumus, the Haymarket's bar and Italian restaurant, has become a popular dining spot and post-theater hangout, and the hotel is just steps away from another Nash masterpiece, the Theatre Royal Haymarket (Haymarket; 011-44-870-901-3356). After three centuries of curtain calls, in 1994 the performance space underwent a $2.7 million face-lift. More than a thousand sheets of 24-karat gold leaf were applied to refresh the column capitals and ceiling. To bring luster back to the central chandelier, glassworkers cleaned its 2,000 lead crystals by hand.
In fact, many of the district's old haunts are shining again. At the retro-chic National Dining Rooms (Trafalgar Sq.; 011-44-20-7747-2525), inside the National Gallery, Oliver Peyton, known for such architecturally inspired restaurants as Inn the Park, wows patrons with new-season Suffolk lamb with red currants and other modern British fare. A three-course lunch costs sixty dollars — a near bargain in London — and is sourced primarily from small U.K. farmers, vintners and cheesemakers.
The nearby Institute of Contemporary Arts (the Mall; 011-44-20-7930-0493) has recently drawn larger crowds than usual for blockbuster shows; Sir Paul McCartney packed the 350-seat auditorium this summer for the iTunes festival. And London cinephiles know there's no grander place to see the latest James Ivory effort than the Apollo Cinemas West End (19 Regent St.; 011-44-871-220-6000). Even without a film, the popcorn — and the martinis — would be worthy of the twenty-six-dollar evening-ticket price, but they really had me at the business-class-style seating.
A trendy neighborhood, of course, is only as good as its clandestine dining spots, and here the best is St. Alban (Rex House, 4-12 Lower Regent St.; 011-44-20-7499-8558), hidden behind etched glass on a quiet corner. Last year, two of London's most admired restaurateurs, Chris Corbin and Jeremy King (of the Ivy and Le Caprice fame), created a mod dining room with the vibe of a 1960s supper club; witness the low ceilings, curvy banquettes and murals of such everyday objects as a lightbulb and a key ring. But it's the Mediterranean menu that you'll remember most: Sardinian fish stew, hand-carved pata negra ham and charcoal-grilled poussin. Like the rest of SoPic, this place won't remain a secret for long.
LOG-IN TO POST A COMMENT
POST A COMMENT