The Londoner Hotel

It takes some confidence to call a new hotel something like The Londoner; but it also takes some confidence to replace the old Odeon Cinema West End with a hotel that towers eight floors above Leicester Square, with a further six levels below ground. It’s conceived as a “super-boutique” hotel, which aims to marry the character and personalized service of a boutique with the large scale and extreme comforts of a high-end luxury operation.

Hotels certainly don’t get much more central than this — but with 350 rooms and suites, it’s a self-contained world, and feels pleasantly removed from the bustle outside. There’s space here not just for the accommodations but for the Residence, a members’ club that’s just for hotel guests, comprising a Drawing Room, the multi-purpose Y Bar, and the speakeasy-style Whisky Room. And below the square is the Retreat, the Londoner’s vast spa, pool, and wellness complex.

The rooms and suites live up to the promise of boutique aesthetics with a visual identity that’s immediately unique. Even the humblest rooms feature plentiful space, floor-to-ceiling windows, and necessities like Toto washlets, Nespresso machines, and Roberts radios; the suites scale dizzying heights from there, both figuratively and, in the case of the Skyline and Penthouse suites, literally.

Dining and drinking options include the Signature restaurant, the ground-floor Gastro Tavern, the central Lobby Bar, and the self-explanatory Rooftop Bar. And among its events spaces is a nod to the site’s former use — a two-screen Odeon cinema, which will likely see much use from the West End film world.