London’s great hotels are almost always old buildings with new lives. The Peninsula London is the exception. It was built from the ground up between Hyde Park Corner and Wellington Arch, one of the most sensitive plots in the city, and it opened on September 12, 2023, as the company’s first hotel in Britain. By the group’s own account, the search for the right London site had taken more than three decades; its chairman, Sir Michael Kadoorie, put it at 35 years.
That long wait explains the hotel. The Peninsula London is a purpose-built grand hotel designed around what older buildings struggle to offer: large rooms, natural light, technology built in rather than added on, and a full-scale spa. The MICHELIN Guide now rates it a Three-Key hotel, and its rooftop restaurant has held two Michelin stars since its first year.
The courtyard
Hopkins Architects designed the building to sit comfortably among its heritage neighbors. Everything turns on a large courtyard set back from the traffic, planted by the landscape designer Enzo Enea with climbing jasmine, wisteria and two British hornbeams. In Belgravia, a forecourt where a car can pull in off the road is a rare thing.
Rooms built like private residences
Peter Marino handled the interiors, taking his cues from English country houses and the parkland outside. There are 190 rooms and suites, and they start at 50 square meters, which is large for central London. Every room has a mahogany-paneled dressing room and a bathroom in honey onyx. Many have floor-to-ceiling windows facing Wellington Arch or Belgravia.
British craft runs through the building. The hotel worked with the fashion designer Jenny Packham, the perfumer Timothy Han and more than 40 artists from The Royal Drawing School, whose work hangs in public spaces and bedrooms.
Which room to book
Because even entry rooms are generous, the upgrade worth paying for is the outlook rather than the square meters. Park-facing categories, which look across to Wellington Arch and the royal parks, deliver the hotel’s signature view. Families and longer stays benefit from the terrace suites, where outdoor space is rare at this address. At the top of the range, The Peninsula Suite has its own screening room and gym.
Two practical touches matter more than they sound. Peninsula Time lets guests check in and out whenever they need to, subject to the hotel’s terms, which takes the sting out of a dawn long-haul arrival. PenChat is a round-the-clock digital concierge.
Brooklands, under Concorde
The signature restaurant sits on the eighth floor. Brooklands by Claude Bosi opened in October 2023 and was awarded two Michelin stars within four months, a status it retained in the 2026 guide. The cooking showcases British produce through Bosi’s classical French technique, with a six-course tasting menu and a more relaxed à la carte. It opens for dinner Tuesday to Saturday.
The room is designed by Archer Humphryes around the Brooklands racetrack and Concorde, and a scale model of the jet stretches across the ceiling. Floor-to-ceiling windows open onto a terrace, and Brooklands Bar, next door, looks across the London skyline.
Tea in The Lobby, and Canton Blue
Downstairs, The Lobby keeps up the Peninsula tradition of afternoon tea under high ceilings. Canton Blue serves Cantonese cooking in rooms designed by Henry Leung of CAP Atelier, themed on the spice routes that once tied Asia to Britain, and the hotel’s parent company reported waitlists for it in 2024. The Peninsula Boutique and Café is the casual option.
The spa
The Peninsula Spa has a 25-meter indoor pool and a fitness studio, with treatments that run from mind-body therapies to longer wellness programs. For a city hotel, that is a serious facility, and it makes The Peninsula a sensible choice for long stays, when a routine matters as much as a treat.
How it compares
Within a short taxi ride, London now offers three quite different ideas of a grand hotel. Claridge’s is the inherited Mayfair icon, with Art Deco glamour and two centuries of stories. Raffles London at The OWO is the restoration on a heroic scale, with nine restaurants inside Churchill’s former War Office. The Peninsula is the purpose-built modern palace, and its strengths follow from that: large rooms, good light, a full-size pool and technology that was designed in.
Choose The Peninsula for space, calm and the parks on the doorstep. Choose Claridge’s for heritage and Mayfair shopping, and The OWO for history and nightlife under one roof. The trade-off here is age: travelers who want creaking floorboards and a century of patina will not find them, and the Hyde Park Corner traffic is a reminder that this is a city-center site, even if the courtyard keeps it at a distance.
Who should stay
The Peninsula London suits long-haul travelers, families who need space, wellness-minded guests who want a proper pool and food lovers planning a trip around Brooklands. It also suits anyone who likes service that is precise without drawing attention to itself. For more on how the big hotel brands differ, see Four Seasons vs Ritz-Carlton and Rosewood vs Mandarin Oriental.
Planning Your Stay at The Peninsula London
Location: 1 Grosvenor Place, Belgravia, London SW1X 7HJ, at Hyde Park Corner.
Hotel style: Newly built grand hotel with 190 rooms and suites from 50 square meters.
Best for: Long-haul arrivals, families, long stays, food lovers.
Room to book: A park-facing category for the Wellington Arch view; a terrace suite for families or longer stays.
Reserve ahead: Brooklands (Tuesday to Saturday dinner), Canton Blue, afternoon tea in The Lobby and spa treatments.
Nearby: Hyde Park, Green Park, Buckingham Palace and Knightsbridge are all within walking distance; the Waldorf Astoria at Admiralty Arch is the next big opening on this side of London.
Reservations: Through the official Peninsula London website.
The Final Word
The Peninsula London waited more than 30 years for its site, then built exactly the hotel that site allowed: modern, spacious and designed around the parks outside. It will not replace London’s historic icons, and it is not trying to. For travelers who value space and calm over patina, it is one of the most convincing new grand hotels in the city.
This In-Depth Guide is based on the hotel’s official materials and independent reporting, verified October 18, 2026.
