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Soho House expands to 'Bed and Brasserie'
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard22 Apr 2008
Soho House is expanding its empire with a boutique "bed and brasserie" in the heart of Soho.
The chain, which began as a members-only club in Greek Street, has outposts in west and east London, Somerset and the US.
Now it is returning to its roots. Work has begun to convert two Georgian buildings in Dean Street into a hotel.
It will contain 24 small and medium rooms ranged over four floors, with what is billed as an informal all-day French restaurant on the ground floor.
Soho B&B will be open to members and non-members - though many guests are likely to be the celebrities and media types who use Soho House. Three-quarters of the 15,000 members work in the media, including TV presenters Ant and Dec and former BBC chairman Gavyn Davies.
Soho House was launched in 1995 by Nick Jones, husband of Desert Island Discs presenter Kirsty Young. A country version, Babington House in Somerset, followed. Other venues are now open in New York, Shoreditch, Notting Hill and Chiswick.
Ivy restaurant tycoon Richard Caring bought a £105 million stake in the chain earlier this year and further branches are planned in Hollywood, Miami, Berlin, Chicago, Tokyo, Shanghai, Cairo and Sydney.
Soho B&B is due to open early next year in a pair of listed buildings built in 1732. The site has been used as a shop, for industrial purposes and most recently as offices over a winebar and nightclub.
Most of the original Georgian interiors were stripped out during 20th-century alterations, which also damaged the structure. Soho House plans to put much of this right, restoring original room shapes, cornices, panelling and columns.
A Soho House spokeswoman would not say how much rooms will cost.
A suite at Babington House starts at £245 a night and rooms at Chiswick's High Road House start at £140 a night.
