Latest news with #OldWarOffice
Spectator
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The chef does not understand sandwiches: Raffles London at the OWO reviewed
I am mesmerised by the restaurants of Raffles London at the OWO (Old War Office) because war approaches and the Old War Office is now a stage set for food, floristry and linen. If this is civilisation – it isn't really, but it thinks it is – who will protect it now? Will we even know if war has started – or care? It was a fine building when I first came – I have reviewed its chilly Mediterranean food, its manic Italian and its tepid French – and it still is. Grand hotels exist to suppress time. It is a preening Edwardian palace with crazed plinths, over-pliant staff and ever sillier restaurants, today's being the Drawing Room. It looks like how people who are not posh imagine posh country houses to be. It's the English restaurant in Trump Tower without the defibrillator, or the more money-ed parts of Weybridge. It is all dark wood and red leather like a bench in the House of Lords, though there is a copy of The Brothers Karamazov on a shelf, and The Dog in Photography. I am here for a themed second world war female spy tea called Secrets & Spies, which I booked while laughing. It is the patisserie-fication of the remembrance of war, and this is apt here. I wonder if the tea exists, though subconsciously, for women who think that eating is an act of war against yourself. We ask for Earl Grey, and the waiter makes us smell it before it is infused for three, four or five minutes (a timer is provided). I feel vaguely captured when I am made to smell tea, but I give him this: it is very good tea. British tea is usually terrible, a feint, part of our mad grandiosity. Then an asparagus and spring vegetable tart, which is small, cold and almost all pea. I will embrace the theme and say it is like being tortured by fascist peas. Then a vile group of sandwiches: chicken with curry emulsion (what?); ham on tomato bread; egg and cress; smoked salmon and horseradish. They are small, cold and weird. The chef does not understand that sandwiches cannot be posh, and the best sandwich – the thick sandwich – will not try. The cakes are madder than Hitler. There is a cake inspired by the GTSP, the sabotage watch 'that won the war', which I had never heard of until I ate a chocolate version of it. There are pastries named for Odette Sansom, the first woman to win the George Cross (elderflower, raspberry and yoghurt); Christine Granville, who was the inspiration for Vesper Lynd (strawberry, vanilla and ginger); Virginia Hall Goillot, our first woman in occupied France (chocolate, coffee, sable); Vera May Atkins, the inspiration for M (maple, pear, pecan). It's weird, like eating the Imperial War Museum because you can't think of anything else to do with it. It's rare that a restaurant leaves me this confused: who is this for? Is it a sting, HM's government being wary of women who take novelty teas? Is it feminism? I leave the halls where, the restaurant blurb tells me, 'some of the nation's most important leaders, statesman and influencers have walked'. Was T.E. Lawrence an influencer and, if so, where is his memorial macaroon? I know it is coming, alongside an entire Madame Tussauds made of pastry. I went on a Karl Marx walking tour of Soho once: every place Marx lived and worked is now a pub, restaurant or cocktail lounge. Civilisation – what it really is – is drowning in food and drink, so make it good. This isn't.
Forbes
14-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Forbes
Best London Hotels With Spas: 7 Luxury Wellness Escapes To Bookmark
Raffles London at The OWO just around the corner from Big Ben. Wellness isn't a weekend away anymore. In London, where the tempo seems to climb with every passing week, it's becoming a daily survival tactic. The streets are pulsing, inboxes are swelling, and even the city's green spaces buzz with activity. Amid all this, the real luxury is silence. Stillness. Time to switch off. Thankfully, these best London hotels with spas have quietly evolved into sanctuaries that rival even the most remote retreats. Whether you've come straight from the boardroom, a long-haul flight, or you just want to hit that pause button, these hotels offer a rare moment to stop and realign, leaving you emerging feeling refreshed. Here are some of the very best hotels in London with spas right now. The Guerlain spa pool at Raffles London at The OWO. London has its fair share of hotel openings, but few have landed with the gravitas of Raffles at The OWO (three Michelin Keys). The former Old War Office — where Churchill once roamed and Ian Fleming sharpened his spycraft — has been transformed into a kind of urban Versailles, with ten-foot-wide corridors and history etched into every balustrade. The Guerlain Spa, buried four floors below ground, is the beating heart of this modern-day palace. A 20-metre pool glows under soft lighting, while hammams, steam rooms, and an expert team of therapists provide the kind of deep reset rarely found in the city. Don't let the military provenance fool you: this is a deeply luxurious escape, right down to the Guerlain beauty salon and wellness programmes curated by Pillar Wellbeing. There's cryotherapy, Pilates, nutritional consultations — the works. Rooms upstairs lean toward theatrical: the Raffles Suite is a lacquered fantasy in chinoiserie and black marble, while the Granville Suite (named after Churchill's favourite spy) softens things with lemony florals and claw-foot tubs. Dining is equally ambitious and includes the one-star Mauro Colagreco restaurant. There are nine bars and restaurants in total, including a moody, spy-themed speakeasy tucked into the old MI5 records vault. The Sky Pool at the Shangri-La The Shard, which looks out over the whole city. Shangri-La at The Shard doesn't whisper luxury — it sings it from 52 floors above London. The views alone are reason enough to check in. From your bed, watch the London Eye blink to life, or gaze across rooftops to the Thames, snaking silver through the city. There's no traditional spa here, but wellness finds its own rhythm. The Sky Pool, an infinity-edge gem on the 52nd floor, offers swims with a backdrop of the whole of London. The adjoining sauna wraps you in warmth and window views. In-room massages can be arranged, or hit the gym at 2 a.m. — it's always open. Downstairs (well, relatively speaking), the TĪNG Lounge serves British cuisine with Asian flair — think Cornish crab with yuzu kosho or an impeccable afternoon tea. For a nightcap, GŎNG bar is a destination in itself. Come for the Lilibeth cocktail — a fresh, floral blend of gin, elderflower, and citrus — served over a giant floating ice cube shaped like a diamond as a playful nod to the crown jewels locked away at the Tower of London, visible from here. It's the perfect sunset spot. Service is warm and intuitive, but never overbearing. Staff remember your name, your coffee order, the last book you read. It's that rare kind of hospitality that makes you feel known. Yes, it's a skyscraper hotel, but one with soul — and that elusive urban London mix of buzz and stillness. For jet-lagged arrivals, romantic weekends, or just a break from the concrete below, Shangri-La offers a version of the city that feels elevated in every sense. The light and airy spa with a view of the Hyde Park tree tops at the Four Seasons Hotel London at ... More Park Lane. At first glance, this Mayfair address reads classic Four Seasons — Art Deco polish, black marble floors, quietly confident service. But head to the 10th floor and you'll find something a little more surprising: a jewel-box spa in the sky, with sweeping views over Hyde Park and a warmth that feels genuinely personal. It's small but considered. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood the space with natural light (a rarity in city spas), while signature facials by Linda Meredith and The Organic Pharmacy sit alongside cutting-edge treatments from Omorovicza and Cellcosmet. There's a sauna with a skyline view, and if you're lucky, an immersive sound bath happening that day — Sahana Sound's sessions are deeply meditative, perfect for decompressing from city noise. Everything flows naturally here, from spa to dinner. Downstairs, Pavyllon London by French three-star chef Yannick Alléno brings easygoing finesse to fine dining. Think elegant plates with just enough flair, served in a space that morphs effortlessly from quiet business lunch to date-night dinner, and why not a party to sounds spun by a live DJ at the weekends. This isn't the flashiest hotel in Mayfair — but that's its magic. Everything works. Everyone remembers your name. And by the time you check out, you'll wonder why you don't spa in the city more often. The COMO Shambhala Metropolitan London is a place to enjoy award-winning wellness treatments in ... More clean-lined, peaceful rooms in the centre of London. Slip off Park Lane and you'll find one of London's most quietly effective sanctuaries. The rooms at COMO Metropolitan may feel a little pared-back compared to other five-star locales, but the real draw is downstairs at the COMO Shambhala Urban Escape — a minimalist haven built for proper restoration that's a more modest offshoot of the group's mothership; a wellness hotel folded into a jungly Balinese valley so incredibly beautiful that it could well be paradise itself. At COMO Metropolitan London, there's no glitter or gimmick, just deeply intuitive therapies grounded in Asian wellness philosophies. Treatments are tailored and precise, using COMO's own blend of essential oils that's instanty addictive upon the first whiff, and the kind of touch that recalibrates both body and mind. Therapists are among the city's most experienced, and the mood is always calm, never clinical. Guests are encouraged to roll out yoga mats in their rooms or take their practice outdoors — Hyde Park is only minutes away, and private sessions are easily arranged. There's a considered approach to sustainability throughout: wooden key cards, low-waste menus, and gentle nudges toward mindful living rather than a preachy detox. And while it might feel low-key, there's still a pulse of Mayfair glamour, particularly at Nobu — the hotel's restaurant, and still one of the sexiest tables in town. Grab a seat in the serene courtyard post-treatment for a fresh juice or sashimi platter and soak up the contrast: wellness without retreating from the city. The moodily lit pool at the Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square, Tower Hill. A short stroll from the Tower of London, a historic medieval castle close to Tower Bridge, this neoclassical gem whose ballroom was the site of the inaugural General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946, feels almost cinematic. Four Seasons at Tower Bridge is grand in scale — think domed ceilings, Corinthian columns, and hushed corridors echoing with 1920s glamour — but down in the spa, everything softens. It's a proper subterranean sanctuary. The lap pool is long and luxuriously underused, the hammam vast and steamy, and the eucalyptus-scented sauna just the ticket on a grey London afternoon. There's a sense of space and quiet here that's rare in the capital — a place where you can truly vanish for an hour (or three). Treatments lean toward indulgent — deep-tissue massages, restorative facials, and rituals that blur the line between beauty and therapy. It's the kind of spa where you emerge pink-cheeked and slow-blinking, wondering how long you were asleep. Upstairs, the glamour continues. The Rotunda is a stunner for breakfast or afternoon tea under a sweeping frescoed ceiling. And for dinner, Mei Ume delivers elegant Japanese-Chinese fusion in a sultry dining room made for lingering. The elegant spa at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London. You know you've arrived at the Mandarin Oriental when the doormen tip their hats just so and the lobby's soft scent signals instant exhale. But beyond the gilded doors and glossy marble, the hotel's spa offers the kind of tailored wellness that feels part ritual, part reset. The subterranean spa is a cocoon of tranquillity, with its amethyst steam room, vitality pool, and sleep-inducing loungers. Treatments are immersive: you'll find acupuncture, sound healing, and reiki alongside Biologique Recherche facials and personalised yoga therapy. The in-house Sleep Concierge, hypnotherapist Malminder Gill, is a London insider secret — her sessions for jet lag and anxiety are pure magic. Everything is exquisitely calibrated. And there's an extensive fitness centre with its own pool, as well as personal training and bodywork available on request. For a deeper reset, bespoke day retreats combine movement, breath work, and body therapies. The spa is a destination in itself, but its proximity to Hyde Park adds a unique layer — after a massage, wander into the green or just watch the horses trot by from the windowed relaxation lounge. You're in the heart of Knightsbridge, but it feels miles away. The Akasha spa at Hotel Café Royal with a full length lap pool. At street level, the boutique Café Royal, which has welcomed a roll call of A-listers like from Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill to Princess Diana and David Bowie over the last 150 years, hums with the rhythm of central London — tourists spilling out of Piccadilly Circus, taxis honking, the neon glow of the West End. But step inside and the noise falls away. The chandelier in the lobby — a shimmering, 700-pound Murano glass cloud — sets the tone: elegant, extravagant, quietly theatrical. The hotel's spa by Akasha Holistic Wellbeing, is tucked away underground and feels like it belongs in another realm entirely. This isn't just a place to squeeze in a massage between meetings. It's a proper retreat, where holistic therapies meet serious spa credentials. There's a sleek 18-metre back-lit pool, a Jacuzzi, sauna, hammam, and treatment rooms tucked into upper gallery of the spa. Treatments range from Watsu (water therapy) to guided meditation, nutrition consults, and Reiki. It's all grounded in the concept of the five elements — earth, water, fire, air, and Akasha, the spiritual source — though you don't have to buy into the philosophy to feel the shift. Back upstairs, the Oscar Wilde Lounge is the kind of place that reminds you of London's layered history. Order a pot of Earl Grey or a glass of Champagne and settle in under the rococo ceiling for one of the city's most decadent afternoon teas.
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South China Morning Post
18-05-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
In Whitehall, a heritage address courts Asia's most exacting buyers
[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Ultra-wealthy buyers from Asia, whether property magnates, tech entrepreneurs or family offices, have long been active participants in London's prime residential market. But few opportunities, even for this discerning cohort of buyers, match the rarity of The OWO Residences by Raffles. The central courtyard at The OWO boasts one of the nine restaurants at The OWO, which both hotel guests and residents can enjoy. 'There will only ever be one Old War Office, and only one Raffles London. No other scheme compares in terms of build quality, beauty and location,' says Mark Elliott, head of Savills International Realty in Hong Kong, on the OWO's appeal. Housed within the former Old War Office on Whitehall, once the preserve of Churchill and T. E. Lawrence, the scheme offers 85 bespoke residences next to a five-star Raffles hotel. Its appeal lies not only in its prime location and architectural grandeur but in the convergence of imperial heritage, branded service and enduring value.'There will only ever be one Old War Office, and only one Raffles London,' says Mark Elliott, head of Savills International Realty in Hong Kong. 'No other scheme compares in terms of build quality, beauty and location.'At entry prices of roughly £4mn for a one-bed and £8-10mn for larger family homes, the residences sit firmly in London's 'super-prime' bracket. Elliott regards the premium as defensible: comparables near Hyde Park may share leafy views, but they lack the gravitas of a Grade II* listed palazzo abutting Horse Guards Parade, within strolling distance of Buckingham Palace. 'It isn't the Churchill connection that closes deals,' he concedes. 'Clients buy because of where it is, what it is, and the level of finish we're delivering. It's like buying a Monet or a Picasso,' he muses. 'You're acquiring a slice of history that will be handed down through generations.' The pitch is resonating with Asian capital that increasingly prizes 'wealth-preservation generational purchases'. Completed in 1906, the War Office served as a strategic command during both world wars and later housed the Ministry of Defence. Its commanding position on Whitehall – between Downing Street and Buckingham Palace – adds geopolitical weight to its architectural gravitas. Following a £1bn+ restoration led by Westminster Development Services, the building now incorporates nine restaurants, three bars, a Guerlain spa and 30,000 sq ft of residents-only amenities, all anchored by Raffles' first UK hotel.
Times
17-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Gopi Hinduja and family net worth — Sunday Times Rich List 2025
What is Gopi Hinduja and family's net worth? ▼ £35.304 billion£37.196 billion in 2024 The sumptuous 120-room Raffles hotel fashioned out of Whitehall's Old War Office (OWO) in central London, where Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, worked during the Second World War, has been restored to 21st-century luxury by Gopi Hinduja, who tops The Sunday Times Rich List for the fourth successive year. More recently, the gilt-edged OWO has hosted several 'leaving UK' parties for super-rich individuals and families getting out of the country. The building's owner will not be hosting one himself. Gopi — or GP as he likes to be known — plans to see out his days in his 60-room home on Carlton House Terrace, just
Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Matthew Parris: My night sleeping in Churchill's War Office
Half a century ago I arrived in Whitehall as a young Foreign Office recruit. The building was tremendous, befitting a nation's once-confident imperial pomp. The decor of the state rooms breathed grandiosity — so long as you kept your eyes raised. Lower your gaze and you saw grubby taps, charladies filling buckets, and clerks wheeling trollies piled with dog-eared files down endless corridors. As an efficient office block for modern government the place was in the wrong century. Some proposed knocking it down. They wanted to do that — unbelievably — to much of Whitehall. The 19th-century world of clerks and formality has long gone. In its place, in another of those old state buildings a stone's throw from the Foreign Office, has come… well, something astonishing. Imagine a lavish makeover, a billion pounds or so invested in an almost reverential adaptation, with top-of-the-range restaurants and bars, and state rooms where portraits of former statesmen gaze down on mahogany four-poster beds, silk curtains and velvety carpets. Like a dream of past glories, recreated for a generation whose world is anything but glorious. Last week I spent a night in that dream. Whitehall's Old War Office — 'OWO' — is the place where, when I began at the Foreign Office, spies were reputed to keep company and the military top brass still met to mull the twists and turns of the Cold War. From its design at the turn of the 19th century and then for more than a century, the OWO corridors were paced by the likes of Asquith, Kitchener, Lloyd-George, Churchill, Slim, Eden and Profumo — a who's who of leadership in war and peace. This is where a young Winston Churchill addressed staff from a marble balcony in the First World War and where orders for D-Day were finalised in the Second. A vast palace built in Edwardian baroque style, with a sweeping staircase designed so that officers in riding spurs would not trip, and acres of luxurious panelling that took a sizeable proportion of the forests of Empire to create. Domes and turrets soar, ceilings reach to the heavens, heavy doors with brass locks clunk satisfactorily. The views from the windows even now are of Guards on horseback across the road, and the Banqueting House from which Charles I stepped to his execution in 1649. It's at the epicentre of our nation's history. And now, very discreetly, it has become a hotel of impeccable style. Apparently it took eight years to finish the conversion, longer than it took to build the OWO in the first place. Few of us frequenting Westminster had even noticed it happening. At least on the outside. But I've now walked inside to a world I'm utterly unaccustomed to — and would indeed be unable to afford. 'Good afternoon, Mr Parris, I'm your butler,' said Mateusz Wojakowski, capable and welcoming, making no comment on my tattered old rucksack, and leading my partner and me down mosaic-floored corridors into a set of rooms that would make even a prince blush. There was a vast bed, the finest linens, chandeliers and a sitting room stacked with antiques. And the bathroom! The size of a small church, with a vast polished brass bath, gleaming gold on a plinth where an altar might rest. The Haldane Suite must be the grandest room in the grandest hotel in one of the grandest cities on Earth (although, I'm told, the Granville Suite, with its wooden panelling and almost cathedral-style bedroom, is even more glorious). It became Churchill's office when he was secretary of state for war from 1919-21. The high, arching stucco ceilings are original, the great fireplaces even older, brought from the military command's original offices in houses on Pall Mall. The art on the walls comes from the private collection of the Hinduja family, who funded the new hotel. The three vast rooms run from one to the other in what the owners of stately homes call an enfilade — from bed to bath in a spectacular progression. The suite has been named after the reforming secretary of state for war — a Liberal MP and philosopher — but even this moderniser would have been astonished by the technology now slipped, almost invisibly, into his old offices. Curtains close at the touch of a tablet, subtle lighting dims and brightens, and a hidden enclave hides a bar, tucked in silent sliding draws. The bed is vast, the sheets perfect, the carpet deep, and the room, despite Whitehall outside, silent. I've rarely slept better. The price (had I paid it) is embarrassing — the luxury almost too much to take in. I had quietly expected the whole thing might be a bit flash, and I'd be able to tease the world's super-rich for their ostentation. But no. I have to report that the restoration is elegant and respectful, the regard for history spot on and even the pillows (I'm fussy about pillows) just the right balance between thin and puffy. My only regret was the walk through the suite to the loo, which seemed to take about ten minutes. I slept better than anyone deserves to in what was apparently once the office of the chief of the imperial general staff. I could almost hear him harrumphing at the impertinence. Dinner in the Mauro Colagreco restaurant was a succession of luxuriant flavours: Scottish langoustine and shellfish in lime-heavy leche de tigre, with strips of kohlrabi; radish and poached scallops fresh and tangy — a world away from the overcooked steak and caviar I'd supposed oligarchs want. Before padding back to my imperial suite there was time for a Vesper Martini in the Spy Bar, deep in the basement, photography banned, and an Aston Martin behind the counter. Somehow even this seemed more authentic than showy. There's hardly space here to tell you about the vast swimming pool buried deep underground, or the turret with a view over half of London … It was time to hang up my hotel dressing gown, pick up my plasticky rucksack and head out, past the limousines, into real life at Embankment Tube around the corner. I have never really associated extravagance with good taste. Here was both. Though what Lord Kitchener would have thought of two gentlemen together in a bed in his office, heaven only knows. The Haldane Suite begins at £16,000,
