Inhabit Hotels is expanding its mission to create restorative, environmentally and socially-conscious places to stay in the city, with the opening of Inhabit Queen’s Gardens. The fledgling brand’s second London hotel is slated to open in March in Bayswater, W2.
Set across a crescent of mid-19th Century townhouses on a tree-lined square near Lancaster Gate, Inhabit Queen’s Gardens is an intimate boutique hotel comprised of considered social spaces and 159 uplifting guest rooms. It has been created with a passion for well-being and living in a way that supports a healthy mind and body, as well as modelling responsible hospitality practices.
The public areas include a 70-cover plant-heavy menu restaurant and bar, comfortable lounge areas for socialising and working, and a noise-free library stocked with thought-provoking reads spanning wellness, meditation, social enterprise, holistic health, contemporary art, philosophy, local London and nature. A subterranean wellness area provides treatment rooms, a fitness suite and yoga studio.
Mindfully designed for the modern traveller, everything at this new hotel has been considered with a genuine commitment to environmental initiatives and meaningful community partnerships. The hotel has pledged to work with 100 social enterprises and small, socially conscious businesses.
Art and design
Holland Harvey Architects, Caitlin Henderson Design and art curators Culture A have collaborated with Inhabit Hotels to create the tranquil new space. Its soothing style blends contemporary Scandi inspiration and Eastern philosophical awareness with quintessential British design.
Inhabit showcases the ingenuity and creativity of craftspeople, working with more than 30 makers and artists to create Inhabit Queen’s Gardens. Goldfinger, an award-winning social enterprise demonstrating that high-end design can and should be people and planet positive, has produced bespoke joinery for the hotel throughout the public areas and guest rooms.
Somerset House Studios and Makerversity offer artworks by emerging and established artists to complement and enhance the meditative mood. For visitors and guests, inspiration awaits in works by artists such as AnneMette Beck, whose multi-textural art installation welcomes guests as it plays along the wall at reception.
Hugo Dalton’s dynamic light drawings nudge visitors to consider nature from a new perspective, while Freya Bramble Carter’s bespoke tactile ceramics are installed throughout the guest rooms. Social-impacting soft furnishings include Myanmar’s Kalinko Homewares and Studio 306 cushions from Aerende, made by people recovering from and living with mental health illness.
Inhabit, a hotel brand founded on the belief that design should have a positive social impact, has focused on using sustainable materials throughout the building’s transformation. One such material is Granby Rock, a custom-made terrazzo produced by Granby Workshop using marble from the original site, which will now form a centrepiece fireplace in the reception. Granby Workshop is a manufacturer of architectural ceramics based in Liverpool, established by Turner Prize-winning assemble as part of a community-led effort to reinvigorate Granby, a Liverpool neighbourhood made derelict by decades of poor planning initiatives.
Wellness
Regarding wellness not simply as a physical state, but as a way of being, is at the heart of the Inhabit brand. The new hotel champions social connectedness, intellectual expansion, environmental responsibility, physical and emotional wellness and occupational enrichment. An engaging series of regular workshops, lectures and events will be curated by Maria Tsiarta, the head of wellness, to help guests recharge, invigorate, connect and learn. In keeping with the Scandi aesthetic, guest bedrooms and suites will be stocked with uplifting, full-size and refillable amenities from Skandinavisk.
‘Inhale at Inhabit’, the hotel’s wellness centre, hosts a programme of daily activities, including vinyasa flow, transformational Hatha and yin yoga, Pilates and complimentary morning meditation classes. The gym provides the essentials, as well as a Peloton Bike. Guests can join live classes with leading instructors, streamed directly from Peloton’s NYC studio, or choose from a library of studio workouts.
Two treatment rooms offer treatments by GAIA, a natural skincare brand handmade in Britain using traditional artisan production methods. Inspired by ancient Greece’s Mother Nature, the GAIA skincare range uses Fairtrade, certified-organic plant extracts sourced from small farms and producers. Treatments include the GAIA poultice massage, using herbal compresses to heal, soothe and increase the flow of chi; and the GAIA yoga lifting facial, a stimulating workout for the face to improve muscle tone and smooth fine lines.
The signature GAIA raindrop therapy at inhale is an exclusive, 120-minute full body and facial therapy using the purest essential oils to bring balance and harmony both emotionally and physically. This signature ritual incorporates raindrop techniques to the back, spine and feet to soothe and nurture whilst a face cleanse and scalp massage restores peace and serenity. Inhabit Queen’s Gardens is the first London hotel to offer GAIA treatments.
Food and drink
Inhabit has collaborated with Marc Francis-Baum, founder of London venues such as Mare Street Market in Hackney and Moor and Mead at Montcalm East to create The Kitchen at Inhabit. A 70-cover restaurant serving an imaginative all-day menu in a light-flooded space quite unique to this West London neighbourhood. Dishes include saffron-pickled cauliflower, sultanas and fried halloumi; split pea dahl, soft egg, yoghurt, crispy shallots and flatbread; burnt aubergine, tahini yoghurt, pomegranate and dried mint; plus, Inhabit’s plant-based take on a full English breakfast.
At the charismatic marble bar, focus is given to English wine and small UK spirit producers including East London Liquor Company, Sapling Vodka, Victory Distillery and Nc’Nean. New-gen alcohol-free drinks are plentiful, too, including Big Drop craft beer, Noughty organic, vegan sparkling wine, Seedlip, Something and Nothing seltzers, fresh house-squeezed juices and Fix8 Kombucha.
Craig Purkiss, executive chef of Barworks commented: “It’s an exciting challenge opening a fully meat-free hotel in London. We’ve researched and developed a menu focussed on the quality of our produce, as well as the importance of sustainable dishes and practices. Ultimately, we let the produce do the talking.”
Neighbourhood
This well-connected W2 enclave is a short stroll from two Royal Parks, Notting Hill and the West End. A skip from the green spaces of Hyde Park, the thriving business hub of Paddington Basin, the Grand Union Canal and Connaught Village. Paddington station is only a five-minute walk away, with national rail connections and the direct Heathrow Express airport link.
Nightly rates at Inhabit Queen’s Gardens start from £170, based on double occupancy, room only.
