Great Scotland Yard Hotel: storied London landmark revels in city’s Victorian underbelly
- Crime and replenishment in the Metropolitan Police’s former headquarters in the heart of the British capital
- Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle were inspired by its handsome facade
‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello; what’s going on ‘ere then? A new luxury hotel has opened on the site of Great Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police in Victorian-era London.
Scotland Yard you say? Yes. The HQ was monikered after the street on which it stands and the name has been synonymous with the Metropolitan Police ever since Charles Dickens became fascinated by the Met’s Detective Department and made friends with some of the inspectors, writing several magazine articles about them and immortalising them in the novel Bleak House in the 1850s. Towards the end of the 19th century, Arthur Conan Doyle featured many Scotland Yard detective characters in his Sherlock Holmes books.
What’s inside? You won’t be watching the detectives (they moved out in 1890, thereafter the building was used by the Ministry of Defence) but there are reminders galore of Met history, with police- and crime-related memorabilia, design details and artworks throughout the hotel. Some are subtle, such as “sniffer dog” rails in the lift, and part of the fun is stumbling across them. Particularly poignant is a lobby exhibition of pieces by current prisoners working with the Koestler Arts rehabilitation programme.
Arts are a big thing here, then? Absolutely. From the lobby, your eye is drawn to The 40 Elephants bar. The name is a reference to a female “smash and grab” gang that shoplifted from West End stores between the 1870s and the 1950s. A striking chandelier signifies the broken glass and jewels stolen by the gang. Over the fireplace is a portrait of the glamorous-looking Lilian Kendall – not one of the 40 Elephants’ leaders but apparently the gang’s most photogenic member.
The cocktail list is a cheeky nod to the gang and the detectives who pursued them; Puttin on the Posh, a reference to the thieves dressing up smartly to blend in with the wealthy customers at the stores they looted, consists of Ceylon arrack, peach, honey, sparkling wine and raspberry liqueur. The drinks on the “Detectives” list are, of course, no or low alcohol, and include the Undercover: bitter aperitif with ice verjus, soda and orange.