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Located in the very heart of Mayfair, London, in the south of England, you’ll find a historic gem of a hotel, the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane. I adore the sophistication and charm of this area of London and so was delighted to spend a weekend there recently and enjoy a return to the glamour of the 1920s.
Why We Love This Hotel
The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane really does have everything I look for in a London hotel: that fantastic location, stunning décor (Art Deco is a huge favorite of mine), a club lounge, and impeccable service. The parking is also a definite bonus and quite rare to find in central London hotels. It’s definitely one to return to again and again.
Location
The Sheraton Grand Park Lane is ideally located in the heart of London’s Mayfair district. It lies on Piccadilly overlooking the beautiful Green Park, which borders Buckingham Palace with its famous Mall Avenue. It’s an excellent location; you are steps from Knightsbridge, home to both Harrods and Harvey Nics, or head in the opposite direction to reach Regent Street, Savile Row, Bond Street, and Oxford Street. It’s an amazing location to shop until you drop in the capital, but you are also well placed for London’s theatres, so your nightlife can be just as thriving. Directly opposite the hotel is Green Park, and Hyde Park runs along Park Lane just to the west of the hotel. Both are perfect for a slow stroll when your legs tire of the shopping and, of course, a spot of people watching, just my favorite activity in London’s parks.
Best Time To Visit
There is literally no bad season to visit London. Although late Spring and Summer bring the most visitors with packed parks and the many cafes and bars spilling onto the pavements, early Spring is a great time to visit as the city’s parks are in full bloom, with the Sheraton being surrounded by London parks this is even more poignant when staying here. Even on rainy days, the shops, museums, and galleries beckon, and of course, Christmas time in London is just magical with the famous lights of Regent Street, Bond Street, and Oxford Street, don’t miss Covent Garden for the perfect Christmassy stocking filler.
How To Get There
If you are driving to the hotel, simply head just behind the main hotel building, down Brick Lane, to find the hotel’s parking facilities. The rear entrance to the hotel is just across the street – super convenient. If you are arriving by train, the hotel lies just a 5-minute walk from Green Park Underground station. As the station is on the Piccadilly line, if you are arriving by air, Heathrow Airport can also be found on this line, so you won’t even need to change trains. Alternatively, if you wish to transfer by taxi, Heathrow Airport is 25km away, the journey usually takes a little over 30 minutes.
Style & Character
The hotel originally opened in 1927, dripping in sheet roaring-twenties style! Housed within a Grade II listed building today, the recently renovated hotel perfectly encapsulates its history with stunning Art Deco décor and furnishings throughout. The glitzy Art Deco foyer runs from one end of the hotel to the other. At its center, you will find the ultra-stylish Palm Court Restaurant with its stained-glass ceiling, plush seating, and gorgeous bar. It’s popular from morning to night. We enjoyed a relaxed coffee mid-morning and returned to admire our purchases with a pre-dinner cocktail. It’s also a much-loved afternoon tea lounge. The lighting in the lounge in the evening was heavenly, with the high ceilings creating a really dramatic mood, totally fitting my expectation of 1920s glamour.
Service & Facilities
The hotel boasts a Club Lounge, which, of course, is always welcome anywhere, but especially in central London, where food and drink prices can be on the high side! The Lounge itself is vast, with a variety of comfortable seating nooks and even a boardroom. They serve breakfast, drinks, and snacks throughout the day, afternoon tea, and evening drinks and canapés. We review the club lounge at the Sheraton Park Lane separately.
The hotel also has a variety of meeting and event spaces, the most notable being the breathtaking Grade II listed Ballroom with its own exclusive entrance from the road outside that will definitely give your guests the wow factor. The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane has that elusive central London parking that I value so highly, as well as a fitness center open 24/7, a charming hotel concierge to attend to your reservations and arrangements (they made me giggle about something most times when I passed their desk or would just call the lift when they saw us coming, super helpful), complimentary Wi-Fi and an express check-in and check-out facility.
It’s easy to say with a hotel of this caliber that the service was excellent. To be honest, that’s my expectation! Granted, it’s not always the case, but thankfully, it certainly was at the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane. However, the service here was really special, warm, personal, and inviting, and you genuinely felt like nothing was too much trouble. They are also excellent with families. From the moment our children were personally presented with the cutest Sheraton Dalmatian pup cuddly toys on arrival, they were smitten with the whole place!
Rooms
There are 275 rooms and 30 suites spread across eight floors. All guest rooms are spacious with individual climate control. Everything you need for a comfortable stay is present: large ensuite bathrooms, interactive flat-screen TVs, complimentary toiletries (ours were Molton Brown), very comfortable large beds, desks, as well as tea and coffee-making facilities, and complimentary bottled water. That elegant, luxury Art Deco décor continues throughout the bedrooms, of course, and our room had a statement mirror I rather fell for!
Choose from Deluxe, Superior, or Club Rooms, and you can also opt for a Park View. The Club Rooms are located at the top of the building and suffer from a wonderful lack of noise, giving you as close to a guarantee of a good night’s sleep as possible!
Best Rooms
As well as the club lounge and the divine Palm Court Restaurant, the Sheraton London Park Lane is also home to two other restaurants. They are located opposite each other when you take the main entrance from Piccadilly. To your left, you have Mercante, the hotel’s delightful Italian restaurant, and to your right, you’ll find the Smith & Whistle, a funky cocktail bar that serves a mean burger. This smart arrangement also means that both restaurants benefit from a Piccadilly-fronted position, meaning both offer terraces out the front!
Food & Drink
At Mercante, we loved their delectable Italian cuisine and friendly service. The restaurant is also home to a very generous buffet breakfast spread where you can kick-start your day. You can help yourself to hot and cold dishes, including pastries, fruit, cheese, salmon, sausages, bacon, and a variety of eggs. There’s also an omelet station where they’ll create one just to your taste, which I’d thoroughly recommend. The colorful art deco décor of Mercante somehow manages to both wake your senses first thing and then soothe them when flooded with candlelight!
It was also really refreshing to dine in a central London hotel restaurant that is contemporary, and as much as I love fine dining, the excellent Italian cuisine was a treat and a real highlight of our stay. Their area of the terrace is home to the fabulous Ciao Malfy, the place to go to make you feel as though you’ve stepped out on the Amalfi coast as opposed to central London!
We also enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Smith & Whistle, where the dark grey, copper, and jade color palate looks trendy and fun while still maintaining the sophistication you would expect at the Sheraton. Smith & Whistle is perfect for an expertly crafted cocktail, and they also have an impressive range of London’s finest draft and bottled craft beers as well as a wine list. But it was all about the cocktails for us! All washed down with a classy take on pub favorites, the burger, and triple-cooked chips more than hit the spot.
The restaurant is further celebrating the wonder that is comfort food with a new menu to ensure guests feel fully nurtured through the colder months! The “Loaded Fries” menu includes Steak ‘n’ Chips – where the Sheraton-class is more than maintained by loading triple-cooked chips with tender slices of Onglet steak, add to this grilled onion, friggitelli peppers, coastal cheddar lashings of piping hot gravy, and you’ll never be cold again! There’s also a curry option, and of course, no visit to London would be complete without Fish ‘n’ Chips – though I feel the Smith & Whistle spin on it will be rather superior when paired with a cocktail or glass of red wine!
Conclusion
A weekend in London is always special, but it’s definitely memorable for all the right reasons when spent at the Sheraton London Park Lane. Come because the location is perfect, it’s got parking, and you love a club lounge; return again and again for the exceptional service, the huge guest rooms, and the sumptuous Art Deco décor.
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