Infact, just to immerse yourself in the ambiance of the seven floor building is to be reminded of legendary author, Joan Didion’s famous quote, ‘we tell ourselves stories to live.’ Yet the Café Royal myth did actually happen, between these walls, and in an architectural layout that hasn’t hugely shifted over the hotel’s convoluted change of owners in the intervening years. Fittingly ‘The Café Royal began as a dream’ according to the biographer of its founder, French born Daniel Nicolas Thevenon, a businessman who fled to London in 1863. A self-made man who saved to start a small Parisian style café- restaurant behind Regent Street, Thevenon was galvanised by its success going onto buy a tailor’s shop and acquiring the Café Royal’s current premises, 68 Regent Street. The winning combination of attentive service, excellent food, and Nicholas’ exceptional wine knowledge was continued by his wife Celestine who ran the Café Royal for another 20 years after his death, and which still pervades the luxury hotel and go-to fine dining as it is today. In 2008, the old Café closed its doors to undergo an extensive transformation into the now 160 guestroom hotel (with 54 suites) and state of the art Akasha wellness spa – that manages to combine a nostalgia for yesteryear with modern, forward-looking style and amenities.
The redesign and interiors were carried out by award winning David Chipperfield Architects (Hepworth Art gallery, Turner Contemporary Gallery) who amalgamated the original Café Royal with the neighbouring Grade II listed buildings. Over the five year renovation, the developers took painstaking care to restore the extravagant Louis XVI grandeur of the historic rooms, including the sensational gilding across the walls and pillars of the Grill Room, Domino Room and Pompadour Ballroom.
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