Inside the London Edition hotel

The original hip hotelier, Brooklyn-born Ian Schrager, is back in the capital in no uncertain terms with the London Edition in Fitzrovia.

The man behind the now 15-year-old but still popular Sanderson and St Martins Lane hotels is hitting the headlines again for his London Edition hotel a stone’s throw from The Sanderson on Berners Street in Fitzrovia, which opened amid much fanfare in September. Schrager, who is perhaps most famous for opening New York nightclub Studio 54 in 1977, frequented by an eclectic mix of flashbulb fans, from Andy Warhol and Calvin Klein to Cary Grant and Madonna, has lost none of his youthful enthusiasm, describing the London Edition as the “most exciting” hotel he’s ever opened.

A sister to Edition’s maiden hotel in Istanbul, which opened in 2011, the London Edition occupies a sweeping space built in 1835 as five townhouses, which merged to become the Berners Hotel in 1909, visited by everyone from King Edward VII to Carl Fabergé.

There are lofty ambitions for the Edition group, with openings forecast for Miami, New York, LA, Beijing, Bangkok and Abu Dhabi in the near future. Inspired by the idea of a magazine having a signature theme but a unique focus with each edition, each hotel in the group will have a common design thread but its own identity.

Owned by Marriot International and managed by David Taylor of Hoxton Hotel fame, the London Edition boasts some of its original Georgian features, along with magnificent, Grade II listed, Belle Epoque carved ceilings spewing with angels and nudes.

The hotel aims to combine the qualities of an English country manor and a private gentlemen’s club with an urban twist. Each of its 173 rooms features wooden panelling evoking cabins on a private yacht.

Aspiring to “simplicity and purity devoid of artifice”, Schrager, who has been married twice – both times to ballerinas – and spent a year in prison for tax evasion in the early ‘80s, has managed to strike the right balance between urban cool and cosy comfort. A pioneer of making the lobby a social hub, the sighting of singer Lily Allen during a recent visit, happily chatting to friends on a sofa in the lobby in full view of hundreds of guests milling about, sent out a strong message that Schrager has already created something special with the space.

The London Edition gives good buzz. Walking through the double doors is a voyeuristic thrill – there’s a real sense of seeing and being seen, particularly at Jason Atherton’s Berners Tavern.

It is a simultaneously relaxing and chaotic space housed in what was once the ballroom of one of the townhouses. The restaurant is characterised by its Belle Epoque ceiling, chestnut mohair banquettes, ornate bronze chandeliers pilfered from Grand Central Station, floor to ceiling amber- backlit bar and collection of quirky artworks piled on top of each other in golden frames evoking a vision of how the Royal Academy looked in the early 1800s during its annual exhibition. Housed within the frames is a wide range of images, with everything from lemons and lion heads to books, busts and even a mustachioed man and his dog.

Fresh from Michelin star success at his recently opened Social Eating House in Soho, Berners Tavern is the indefatigable Atherton’s fourth London restaurant. With a fifth in the pipeline at Gary Rhodes’ former Tower 42 in the City, and numerous projects on the hob in Asia – taking his tally of restaurants to 10 – one wonders whether Atherton is in danger of doing a Ramsay and spreading himself thinner than carpaccio, but the expansion plan seems to be working thus far.

To his credit, Atherton apparently visits each of his four London restaurants every day to check that things are ticking along smoothly. “Jason was in this morning on sandwich duty. The man doesn’t sleep,” confirms restaurant manager Matthew Mawtus, who has worked at Claridge’s, L’Etranger and 1 Lombard Street, adding, “The hotel had Jason in mind from the get-go for the project as he’s the man of the moment.”

Keeping Pollen Street Social as his cooking base, Atherton has entrusted Berners Tavern to Welshman Phil Carmichael, whom he’s worked with since the launch of Maze over a decade ago. A self-styled classicist, Carmichael has kept the menu simple, with brasserie staples that focus on the best of British seasonal ingredients. Keen not to have his name above the door, Atherton chose to call the restaurant Berners Tavern through a desire to create somewhere convivial where people come to drink and dine day and night.

“Berners Tavern is all about elevating and refining British cooking. It’s classical British at its heart with a European influence and Jason’s playful touch,” says Mawtus, who reveals that the majority of ingredients come from the UK, with the fish sourced from Cornwall save for the oysters, which come from London-based Wright Brothers.

Inspired by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King’s hugely successful all-day restaurant The Wolseley in Piccadilly, Berners Tavern, which boasts its own street entrance, is open daily from 7am until midnight, and Mawtus has ambitions to see every seat filled at all times of the day.

Able to cater for 140 covers at a time, the menu fits onto one page and features the likes of Orkney scallop ceviche with avocado, radish, baby gem, jalapeño and lime ice, which is selling like hotcakes; and the playful “Egg, Ham and Peas”, formed of a deep fried Clarence Court duck egg, mushy peas and crispy Cumbrian ham, which, according to Mawtus, has become the restaurant’s signature dish.

In keeping with the capital’s insatiable appetite for meat, Berners Tavern offers a selection of grass fed British steaks served with Atherton’s signature duck fat chips.

Keeping on trend, there is also the chance to chomp on sliders and a BBQ pulled Old Spot pork sandwich served with pickled cucumber, slaw and chips. In a nod to the hotel’s British roots, Atherton has introduced “Fish Fridays” and Sunday roasts to the menu, offering battered Cornish cod and mushy peas or whole Dover sole for those seeking something more refined, and roast rib of beef with all the trimmings on Sundays. Tasked with running a team of 45 and catering for 450 covers a day, Mawtus remains pragmatic about the restaurant’s future and is refraining from entertaining Michelin dreams just yet.

“We have the makings of a great restaurant but we’re not there yet. We’ve barely been open a month and it will take some time to find our feet,” he insists, adding, “The phones went mental after the Metro’s Andy Lynes gave us his second ever five-star review and said Berners Tavern may well turn out to be ‘the defining restaurant of the decade’, which was fantastic, but the challenge now is to keep up that momentum.” But with only 20% of clients coming from the hotel at dinner, Berners Tavern has already set itself out as a standalone restaurant independent of its hotel setting.

Wine at Berners Tavern is a serious affair, with Basque-born head sommelier Jonathan Fillion keen to double his 400-bin offering in order to incorporate every Bordeaux estate in the 1855 classification from first growth to fifth. “I’ve just ordered a selection of ‘61s which I’m really excited about. I won’t put a huge mark-up on them as I want them to sell. It’s a privilege to be able to offer them,” he enthuses.

In addition to sourcing rare Bordeaux, Fillion has just won a bottle of Bollinger’s super rare Vieilles Vignes Françaises 2002 at auction, and uses 10 suppliers, including Fields, Morris & Verdin and Les Caves de Pyrène, favouring the private collection route for fine and rare offerings. While the average customer would never know it, 95% of the wines on Berners Tavern’s list are biodynamic or organic, and the majority are from small, family-owned estates.

“I don’t want to buy my wine from men in suits who are talking about their bottom line. I want to source from boutique producers who get their hands dirty in the vineyard,” Fillion insists.

He offers 23 wines by the glass, with house fizz Ruinart Brut NV fairly priced at £12 a glass. “We’re getting through 200 bottles of Ruinart a week, it’s bonkers,” he says. On the English sparkling front, Fillion recently sold a bottle of Hampshire-based Coates & Seeley to Champagne royalty Olivier Krug, who, he said, “loved it”. Thus far, by the glass sales have exceeded expectations.

“I’ve gone big on our by the glass offering, using seven different types of Riedel, including a Montrachet glass for the Marsanne,” Fillion reveals. Bottles meanwhile, range from £21 for a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc from Casa Azul, to £1,850 for Domaine de la Romanée Conti Le Montrachet.

Wherever possible, Fillion tries to educate diners by offering a more unusual alternative to commonly ordered wines styles, with an Entre-Deux-Mers as the Sauvignon Blanc choice, and a Languedoc Chardonnay in place of a white Burgundy, which is proving the biggest by the glass seller on the list.

Cocktails meanwhile, bear the hallmark of their maker, bright Young Turk Gareth Evans, and many made their debut at sister restaurant Social Eating House in May.

Showing off Evans’ cheeky side, concoctions include the Corn on the Cobbler, made with corn whisky, crushed citrus, roast sweet corn syrup and oloroso Sherry topped with a cherry; the Cereal Killer, a blend of Havana Club rum, white chocolate, coffee liqueur, chocolate bitters and “Coco Pops milk” served in a plastic beaker with a red-and-white striped straw; and the Mead, Myself and Aye, which is made with a mix of Somerset Shipwreck cider brandy, apple liqueur, honey mead and lemon juice.

Hidden at the back of the hotel is The Punch Room, an oak-panelled drinking den inspired by 19th century London gentlemen’s clubs. As the name suggests, punch is given top billing, with bespoke punch bowls (sourced from a silversmith in Hackney) on offer for 2, 4, 6, or 8 people at a rather pricey £14 a glass.

There are 10 punches to choose from, including signature sip, the Edition Punch made with Tanqueray 10, jasmine tea, lemon juice, orange blossom and oak moss syrup; a milk punch and a punch of the day. The bar also makes its own orange and lemon sherbet, lime cordial and oak moss syrup in a lab out back.

Since opening a month ago, the Punch Room has already hosted parties for London Fashion Week and (not so) YBA Damien Hirst, making it something of a celebrity hotspot. Thus far, half of the bar’s drinks sales have been punch, which is not bad given its niche nature.

“Punch was invented at the same time as the discovery of the Americas and was the precursor to cocktails as the first mixed drink,” says master mixologist Nick Strangeway, who devised the Punch Room’s list. He adds, “I love the communal element of punch – it’s all about gathering around a bowl, clinking cups and sharing a drink.”

Strangeway dipped into Victorian recipe books to come up with the 10 punches on the menu at The Punch Room, with the quintessentially British gin and tea making more than one appearance.

“Tea was used a lot in punches in the 17th century as cold water was unsafe to drink back then, while citrus was used to fight off scurvy,” explains Strangeway, who insists that you can use any base spirit you like in a punch, just so long as the final blend contains sugar, citrus and spice.

Running the show at the Punch Room is affable, blond Canadian Lance Perkins, who reveals that the initial plan for the 50-cover space was to have an honesty bar, where patrons are trusted to pay what they deem fair for the drinks they pour themselves. While he hopes guests will come away having learnt something about punch, he’s keen not to force-feed them facts.

“It’s not a history lesson; we want to keep the atmosphere light,” he says. Perhaps this explains the addition of Sally, the bar’s mascot, a sterling silver ostrich that sits atop the bar and keeps an eye on things.

To honour regular patrons, Perkins is toying with the idea of having some of the punch bowls engraved, so regulars can drink from their own vessel each time they visit the bar. And if punch isn’t your preferred poison, there’s always the option of Krug Grande Cuvée by the glass at £40 a pop.

Meanwhile, the music offering at the Punch Room runs the gamut from ragtime, doo-wop and ska to blues, with live jazz acts soon to make their debut. Sticking to a more classical script, the Lobby Bar in the hotel’s entrance serves classic cocktails with a contemporary twist.

Overseen by Davide Segat, libations include the Edition Shrub, Elderflower Power Sour, Hoax Martini and the cheekily titled Smashing Pear of Melons. And in a hat tip to Schrager’s Studio 54 days, downstairs in the hotel’s basement is a private nightclub that serves boozy slushies and showcases the latest in aural talent via DJ nights run by the Scissor Sisters’ ex-manager. Mr Warhol would certainly have approved.