Effortlessly poised between Victorian grandeur and contemporary comfort, The Langham London remains one of Marylebone’s most storied and consistently rewarding grand hotel addresses.
Hotel: The Langham London | Location: Regent Street, London, United Kingdom | Room Type: Club Executive Room | Rating: ★★★★★
Around the world, there are a handful of hotels that have not only stood the test of time but have also helped to define it, evolving with the ebbs and flows of luxury while holding fast to the traditions that make them a household name. The Langham London, occupying the corner of Portland Place and Regent Street in Marylebone, directly across from the BBC’s Broadcasting House and a short walk from both Oxford Circus and the green expanse of Regent’s Park, is very much one of these hotels.
Designed by architect John Giles and opened on 10 June 1865, The Langham was Europe’s first “Grand Hotel” and remains one of the most iconic of London’s traditional-style properties, with 380 rooms and suites across a building that has seen several careful reinventions. The most transformative of these was a five-year, £80 million (US$60 million) restoration completed in 2009, which delivered a striking new lobby, new event spaces, and the beautifully restored Palm Court, still the spiritual home of British afternoon tea today.
You only have to spend a minute in the hotel’s intimate lobby to understand the role this property plays in the life of Londoners and visitors alike. On any given day, there are dark-suited business deals being conducted beneath Palm Court’s striking crystal chandeliers while waiters in immaculate cream jackets discreetly serve; flower-bearing bridesmaids crossing polished marble floors on last-minute errands; old friends reuniting at the Artesian Bar; and well-heeled travellers from around the world assembling at the check-in counters.
It’s this hive of elegant activity, and the anticipation of the experiences at hand, that makes The Langham such a London institution — a destination in itself, and a byword for indulgence.
A Lavish Base For Exploration
I stayed in one of the hotel’s Club Executive Rooms, a smart, city-view room of 41 sqm dressed in the same warm, considered palette that runs through the property. The Langham Blissful Bed lived up to its name after a long day of meetings and walking the city, the work desk was properly sized for a laptop and paperwork alike, and the marble bathroom — compact rather than cavernous, but beautifully finished, with soft robes and slippers — made for a genuinely pleasant start to each morning.
What elevates the Club Executive Room beyond its footprint is privileged access to The Langham Club (above), the hotel’s dedicated lounge, where a proper breakfast and free-flowing Champagne in the evening are both included. It’s the sort of quiet perk that separates a good stay from a memorable one, and it meant I rarely needed to leave the building before 9 am. Add a refrigerated private bar, Nespresso machine, 24-hour in-room dining and complimentary WiFi, and this is a room built for the demanding traveller who wants comfort and function in equal measure, at a size that suits a short city stay rather than a lengthy one.
Suites Built for Every Kind of Stay
For those wanting more space, The Langham’s suite collection is where the hotel really shows its hand. The One Bedroom Suite, at 58 sqm, is the natural next step up and features a separate seating area, a full-size work desk, a refrigerated private bar, and a marble bathroom with both a separate shower and a bathtub, finished with the same bespoke artwork and warm materials found throughout the hotel. The One Bedroom Residence takes a similar footprint and reworks it as an open-plan, chic pied-à-terre, favoured by guests who want the feel of an apartment rather than a conventional hotel room.
Two of the hotel’s signature suites are worth a special mention. The two-bedroom Infinity Suite (above) combines a striking semi-circular sitting room with views over All Souls Church and Langham Place, with a well-appointed master bedroom and a marble bathroom built around a genuine infinity bath, plus a second en-suite bathroom for the accompanying bedroom, making it a genuinely sociable option for two couples travelling together.
At the very top of the ladder sits the Sterling Suite, a residential penthouse of up to six bedrooms and roughly 450 sqm, complete with a 24-hour personal butler, a private media lounge, a dining room, and a drawing room built around its own piano. It is, without much competition, one of the most opulent private spaces in the city. All suite categories carry complimentary access to The Langham Club.
A Toast to Tradition: Dining and Drinking
You can soak up that distinctive Langham ambience again and again at the hotel’s dining outlets, chief among them Palm Court. Little wonder: this is the room in which The Langham served England’s first afternoon tea in 1865, and nearly a century and a half later it remains the genuine article — Victorian-inspired cakes, pastries and finger sandwiches, seasonal menus (a strawberry tea in summer, among others), thoughtful vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options, and live piano every afternoon beneath those same crystal chandeliers.
The Artesian Bar, on the lobby level, has long been one of the most decorated cocktail bars in the world, and its current list — Ultimo, the final chapter of a three-part “Futureproof” series — continues that reputation for genuine invention.
Each of its 16 cocktails is built around a single spotlighted ingredient, preserved or transformed using techniques borrowed as much from the kitchen as the bar. Among the highlights are Apple, a Champagne-forward drink of Courvoisier VSOP, Disaronno, apple and Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut that manages to taste uncannily of apple crumble; and Cep, a negroni reworked around mushroom and a whisper of blue cheese that sounds unlikely and drinks brilliantly.
Around the corner, The Wigmore occupies a handsome former banking hall and offers a thoroughly modern take on the classic British pub, with hearty gastropub cooking reimagined by chef Michel Roux, wine on tap, and cask ales alongside the venue’s own Saison. It has picked up its share of recognition in the past couple of years and remains one of the more convivial rooms in the neighbourhood for an evening that doesn’t require a jacket.
A Little Pampering
The Langham brand has long been known for its approach to wellness, and the London flagship doesn’t disappoint. Below ground, Chuan Body + Soul, the first in Europe, bases its treatments on Traditional Chinese Medicine. Treatments follow the Five Elements theory and include massages, facials, body scrubs and TCM therapies, including acupuncture, with products from Zelens, AMRA and OTO.
The standout is the 16-metre indoor pool, housed in a former bank vault. There are also single-sex changing rooms with a sauna and steam room, four treatment rooms, including a couples’ suite, and a fitness studio, with facilities open daily from 7 am to 9 pm, and treatments running from 9 am to 8 pm, perfect for those post retail therapy recoveries.
The Verdict
The Langham London earns its five stars the old-fashioned way, through a genuinely storied building, a London location that puts the whole of the West End within walking distance, rooms and suites that range from the sensibly sized to the frankly spectacular, and a run of dining and drinking venues that would each be a destination in their own right at a lesser hotel. More than 160 years after it first opened its doors, The Langham remains not just relevant, but genuinely essential.
