Hotel Café Royal

The Hotel Café Royal is a five-star hotel at 68 Regent Street in Piccadilly, London. It stands on a street known for its luxury shopping and grand architecture. The building began as a restaurant and meeting place in 1865, founded by Daniel Nicholas Thévenon, a French wine merchant who arrived in Britain with little more than five pounds. Under his management and later that of his wife Célestine, the Café Royal became famous for its wine cellar, once considered the greatest in the world. By the 1890s, it had become a fashionable gathering spot for artists, writers, politicians and royalty. Among its many notable patrons were Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Taylor. The building itself is a grade II listed structure, protecting its historic features. The hotel’s history includes events that shaped British culture and society. In 1895, Frank Harris advised Oscar Wilde to drop a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry, a meeting that led to Wilde’s eventual imprisonment. From 1951, the building housed the National Sporting Club. After closing in 2008, it was restored and converted into a luxury hotel by the Alrov Group under a 125-year lease from The Crown Estate. The project cost £200 million and took longer than planned due to a major flood and the complexity of the work. The restoration preserved architecturally significant details while updating the building for modern use. Visitors to the Hotel Café Royal find a grand hotel with 159 rooms and historic suites, each designed to reflect the building’s heritage. The Grill Room serves traditional afternoon tea, and the hotel includes several dining rooms and bars. There is also a private members club, meeting rooms, a ballroom and a wellbeing spa with an 18-metre pool. The building’s interiors feature restored fixtures and fittings, including those saved from the original auction. The hotel sits within a larger regeneration project for Regent Street, maintaining its place as a centre for luxury and social life in London.