LOCKDOWN LEADER: Claridges
Claridges is one of the world’s great hotels. There is one thing that separates a very good hotel from a great hotel: it’s a special ingredient that, in normal (probably soon to be called ‘peace’) times can be difficult to pinpoint. It’s just there in the background, you feel it AS SOON you walk in. And it’s that ‘Je ne sais quoi’ that has drawn the great and the good (and the bit naughty) to the mayfair hotel for decades.
In the 1878 edition of travel guide Baedeker's, Claridges was listed as "the first hotel in London” and given the nickname, “an annexe to Buckingham Palace.” It has put up everyone from Queen Victoria to Alfred Hitchcock, Brad Pitt, and Winston Churchill, who temporarily lived here when he was made homeless by his defeat in the 1945 general election. Gordon Ramsay once ran the fine dining main restaurant, Kate Moss tempted the jet set back from their Christmas holidays for her Beautiful and the Damned 40th birthday party and, until a couple of weeks ago, people were still savouring the afternoon tea or holing up conspiratorially over a signature Julep in the discreet Fumoir Bar.
Last week Claridges closed its magnificent doors for the first time in its 208-year-old history but tomorrow they open again to welcome NHS workers from St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, who are unable to go back to their own homes during the pandemic; many, for at least a fortnight. Some 40 medical staff are to move into the hotel for free with food included, courtesy of kitchen staff from the Connaught and Berkeley Hotels, and delivered by the Helpforce charity. This is in addition to the 500 meals they’re sending (via Meal Force) to over 500 more NHS workers. The hotels are also donating thousands of bars of soap and toothbrushes. “Just as it has in the past world wars, Claridges has a duty to step up and support the people of London,” said Paddy McKillen, co-owner of the Maybourne Group, which runs Claridges. “Teams from all our hotels have volunteered to help and support the dedicated NHS workers at this critical time. We are forever in their debt.” Oh and that special ingredient? We know what it is now - it’s a soul.