Flaunting an illustrious stature as London’s only five-star luxe hotel on the river, The Savoy hotel has spent its golden centuries greeting and receiving an enviable, little black book assemblage of the most glorious royal dynasties, powerful grandees, and distinguished personalities across the sphere, from the Edward, Prince of Wales later King Edward VII, to our Tiffany loving film and fashion icon, Audrey Hepburn.
As the UK’s glitterati natives and invitees endeavours to soon embrace the year of 2025, discerning guests of this honoured hospitality beacon can find themselves cushioned within a wanton sanctuary of unrestrained Venetian decadence, and rampant cocktail debauchery with two New Year’s of The Beaufort Bar House Party, and A Venetian Soirée, each uniquely designed to wave goodbye to those final precious hours of 2024 in the heart of our twinkling city, right until the clock strikes midnight and beyond.
The Savoy story
It was the theatrical impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, whom during the late 1870s and early 1880s had encountered many a modernised hotel trappings during his tours throughout the USA, and thus introduced The Savoy hotel to the English capital’s five-star society in 1889.
A truly ingenious trendsetter, steam-generation had proven the pivotal key to unlock and radiate the hotel’s electricity supply, which in turn, had bestowed the gift of light to The Savoy Theatre built by D’Oyly Carte in 1881; the first public building in Britain to be completely lit by electric lights. Not one to push on the innovation breaks just yet, The Savoy’s full frills kitchen formation befittingly claimed the glory for shaking up the UK’s restaurant industry, with avante-garde equipment, ventilation and military station setups courtesy of maitre-chef Auguste Escoffier, while the emergence of the techno-gadgets took form in 1984 with computerised guest records, and an IBM network hitting the colossal £100k tally.
A heart-warming memoir, this hotel belle’s classic chronicles have became intertwined with Italy’s ultra-luxe fashion house founded by a gentleman named Guccio Gucci; the one time luggage porter and lift boy for The Savoy when he was but just, a youngster. With 2021 having marked Gucci’s 100th milestone anniversary, The Savoy chose chosen to cement their deep-rooted, formidable fellowship with the esteemed displayed of The Royal Suite by Gucci, offering its glossy guests an immersive, visual voyage of this esteemed fashion house with an accommodation setup, that has striven to break through the barriers of the high luxury sphere.
Now adopted by the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts family since 2004 alongside a bountiful £220 million revival, the team have remained true-blue to The Savoy’s treasured bonafide genesis, including that momentous Red Lift icon of London’s first electric lift since 1889 all while swirled with a touch of modern day finesse. Accelerating fifth gear into 2024, The Savoy clique have welcomed yet another grandiose rebirth of an epic scale, with the fresh rooms and suites to be unveiled in August 2025 as this grande dame establishment continues to bewitch their guests, with a gourmet attire of ambrosial dining and impeccable hosting, while swathed in a cocoon of imperial histories.
The Beaufort Bar House Party
Embodying the aura of a dusky hedonistic haven right from the 1920s cabaret era, the Beaufort Bar takes great glee in revelling in its enrapturing mise en scène, wreathed in raven black walls, gleaming circular tables and shapely seating, not forgetting the colossal spectacle of the fine arm pendant chandelier as bejewelled interior embellishments in antique gilded gold, shimmers throughout the surroundings.
Gearing up to host their first ever dazzling New Year’s Eve House Party, haute-monde residents and visitors of The Savoy can find themselves summoned into the twilight hideaway of the Beaufort Bar’s arresting art deco decadence, donning their finest couture prêt-à-porter and tuxedo trappings as one sips and savours on many a dainty flutes of flaxen champagne. Evermore one to rescript the definition of indulgent sparkling affluence, keeping parched throats at bay lies with the exclusive offering of Laurent-Perrier Heritage Champagne, bustling with clean fresh notes of lemon and sweet ripe peach, with a swivel of honeyed aromas to make for a smooth effortless drinking experience.
As the midnight interval chimes throughout the capital with its 2025 presence, guests can catch their sight and breath as they gaze onto the vibrant exhibit of London’s celebrated firework spectacle, before pampering their hungry desires on an epicurean affair of melted golden crisp toasties generous brimming with black truffle, and rich butter mild caviar bumps by the Parisian caviar connoisseur, Petrossian. Heading up his top-drawer cocktail crew, it is bar manager and Fallow alumni Markus Basset donning the black jacket to keep empty flutes a-flow, not to neglect his rising star and mixologist maven Sharon Carrara as she shakes and stirs from the gleaming confinements of the backlit bar. Flaunting an array of prestige spirits to shape up the essence of their signature Beaufort Bar Picante, the hypnotic DJ and vivacious saxophonist will be set to cast a riveting tone with their high-powered beats and melodies, for a vitalising nocturnal ambience up to the early 3am spell.
A Venetian Soiree at the Lancaster Ballroom
A quintessential symbol of palatial splendour, the Lancaster Ballroom at The Savoy stands as a noteworthy acknowledgment in London’s priceless chronicled timeline as one of the largest, prestigious and most historic ballrooms in the city.
Christened after the 13th century founded Duchy of Lancaster, the Lancaster Ballroom had made its first gloried reveal in the year of 1910, stretching to a colossal 5,125 sq ft. The interior blueprint was magically performed by French architect René Sergeant, to evoke the regal Parisian magnificence of an 18th century salon basking in an ethereal colour palette of duck egg blue and serene white, as a matching velvet carpet of mighty proportions cocoons the sweeping floor. Throughout the decades of its bounteous existence, the ballroom has played host to some of the world’s most extravagant society weddings, lavish luncheons and ceremonies, including a majestic costume ball in 1912 where Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova took to the ballroom stage, returning again in the early 1920s to dance her “dying swan”, one more time.
Designed to play master of ceremonies for up to 800 cultured clientele, the monumental settings of the Lancaster Ballroom are to be luxuriously transformed into an enthralling vision of Venetian beauty, celebrating Italy’s captivating “Floating City” of Venice right within the beating heart of London’s vibrant West End. Paying its adulations to the 150 canals, 400 bridges and imposing renaissance palaces of this picturesque Italian city, bejewelled visitants in their evening finery shall go to the ball, as one is transported into a grandiose palazzo realm of fairy-tale canals, glistening chandeliers and satin drapery, not forgetting the shimmering garnishings of Venice’s meticulously crafted masks dotted throughout the ballroom.
As the evening commences with a luxuriant Champagne reception, guests are then welcomed to dine on an indulgent five-course dining rendezvous showcasing an assortment of flavoursome local delicacies and seasonal produce, setting the midnight countdown scene for an eventide escapade of zealous live entertainment, dancing jovialities and an armful of sublime surprises, before the ultimate foremost announcement of our new, 2025 dawning.
Factbox
The Beaufort Bar House Party
Details
December 31, from 9pm to 3am
£170pp (standard standing ticket) or
£240pp (deluxe seated ticket)
Includes a bottle of Laurent Perrier Heritage Champagne, Picante cocktail, truffle toastie and midnight caviar bump
A Venetian Soiree
Details
December 31
From £1,395pp
Includes a Champagne reception and five-course dinner
Address: Strand, London, WC2R 0EZ
Phone: 020 7836 4343
Website: savoychristmas.com/new-years-eve
