Welcome to the Twenty Two hotel and members' club

Not that owner Navid Mirtorabi and general manager Darius Namdar initially made that connection, but Namdar is tickled by the link, if not quite the message, as the song trills "come doused in mud and soaked in bleach". Rather, think no dress code and music played pretty much everywhere.

The Twenty Two has been six years in the making. It's located in a prime spot on the corner of Grosvenor Square, right next to the former American Embassy (currently being transformed into a Rosewood hotel) and the brainchild of entrepreneur Mirtorabi, who until last spring owned London's Blake's hotel.

Together with Mayfair magnate Jamie Reuben, Mirtorabi has developed 42,500 sq ft of former office space and a once-private residence into a 31-bedroom and suite hotel, including a self-contained mews house with its own entrance, as well as an all-day restaurant and private members' club.

"This is very much Navid's baby – he's emotionally invested. And he gets it – he knows how to anticipate guests' needs," explains Namdar. A month ahead of the opening, builders and staff move about busily, making final adjustments, hanging drapes and pulling the plastic off the custom-made furniture in the large restaurant, with its windows facing out on to North Audley Street.

Guests' ‘needs' include that community feel, assures Namdar. "We want the neighbourhood to use the restaurant. There isn't a lifestyle hotel around here and we want to shake things up in Mayfair," he declares.

The Twenty Two is not your average members' club

The private members' club, with its library-style lounge, another dining and bar area plus a sizeable dance floor, is not just for Mayfair's denizens. Membership is open to all and aimed particularly at a younger creative crowd from London's more easterly reaches.

"Shaking up members' clubs in the area is an important ethos for us. We want to take away that barrier to entry in the way you look, dress and feel," says Namdar.

So, the doorman won't be giving guests the once over, then? "Definitely not. We want everybody to apply. We want to facilitate the ability for people to have fun – especially after the last two years, everybody really needs that, and we have a good team and a venue to support that," he adds.

Membership fees are also on a par with like-minded clubs, costing £1,500 per year for a patron member and £750 for the rest. "It needs to be approachable if we are going to deliver what we say we will deliver – and that is, come in and enjoy yourself. But membership will be kept pretty low – it's not the backbone to our business. We want it to be comfortable and that's paramount," assures Namdar.

East London meets west London

And while Mayfair denizens and regulars might rarely stray outside its boundaries, Namdar and co are very much hoping that Soho, Shoreditch and its ilk will drift west to this rarefied postcode – and if anyone can do it, then Namdar can, formerly of Corbin & King, Chiltern Firehouse and Mark's Club, along with hotel manager, Jamie Whiteford, who hails from the Ned.

It helps, some, that the Twenty Two is offering an artist-in-residence programme, aimed at young and upcoming talent; and then there's the food offering from executive chef Alan Christie, ex-Wild Honey. Think modern British cuisine with shades of southern Europe, featuring the best seasonal produce from local suppliers and ‘mindful practices'. Booze at each of the hotel's four bars will showcase the Twenty Two's own-brand spirits and craft beer.

Namdar says: "We want to keep the dishes pared back, with a minimal number of ingredients on the plate. But there will be technique involved in bringing out the flavours, which is where Alan will really shine." Dishes will include starters such as Devon crab salad, cucumber, radish and sea greens; grilled octopus, white beans and smoked paprika; with mains such salt-baked organic English chicken with spring vegetable risotto; and Dover sole brushed with a nutty beurre noisette.

Another given for the Twenty Two is its focus on sustainability. Among Mirtorabi's various business interests is Lunaz Design, based in Silverstone, which restores and electrifies high-end classic cars. Plus, he's a committed vegan, who lives an Ayurvedic lifestyle, and is the founder of Chelsea plant-based restaurant Humble. Namdar adds: "Look, we have to. The Grosvenor Estate and the Borough of the City of Westminster are pretty hot on that. Everyone in this area does their bit. There's no leather on the property, no plastic straws, no single-use plastic on site. Every area of the hotel is approached this way – including the food offering.

"Our menu is low-intervention, using the highest-quality ingredients grown in the most sustainable way, from as close as we can get to the hotel. That's a pillar of how the kitchen team have put it all together. The business partners we work with must be sustainable and eco-friendly, and that includes the wine list. It includes 36 English wines and a number of biodynamic wines, put together by head sommelier Roxane Dupuy, formerly of Sketch.

Building the dream team at the Twenty Two

Then there is the tricky issue of staffing – how was recruitment? "We aren't fully staffed yet. We've got all our heads of department in kitchen, but we are still looking for a few positions. At full capacity, it will be around 40 in the kitchen as it's a full seven-day operation," replies Namdar. The goal for total number of staff is 260. "I think we've been very fortunate. We've attracted some incredibly talented people already. How have we done it? I've worked with a lot of our staff before, so we're all on the same page with what we see as good hospitality. And we have a very youthful team – everybody from the ownership down is young and they've all learned a great deal in a comparatively short time. But they've all learned in high-volume and high-end establishments." And that includes Namdar. "I learned a lot when I worked at the Wolseley – Jeremy King was such a mentor to me and for many in the industry. He's such an inspiration. He insists on a business being run from the restaurant floor, not from the boardroom, and that's paramount. We look after our staff, too.

"Ultimately, being on the floor myself, I know what staff want. This is people putting their life, time and energy into making a successful business, so they want simple things in return. Staff want to be looked after properly, they want good benefits, so we've done that and that's why they've stayed."

Hotel, members' club, work of art

Guests are in for a treat when it comes to interiors – think Louis XVI on a mini-break in the French countryside, via a visit to an 18th-century Parisian bordello. The brief came direct and in some detail from Mirtorabi and was realised by Cuban American interior designer Natalia Miyar, with whom he has worked for a number of years.

The wallpaper alone is enough to excite, with big patterns and strong colours that have been repeated on the velvet upholstery, and some bold colour-blocking. Plus, there's some serious panelling throughout and plenty of mirror action. Add to that tassels galore and a riot of chandeliers, and an animal print carpet on the dance floor in the members' club, and you get the picture. "I love a good party," Miyar roars. And so will Mayfair, by the sounds of it.

Interior designer Natalia Miyar talks too many tassels, the joy of French panelling and adding a Champagne glow

The Twenty Two is your first hotel – how was it for you?

A bit of a trial by fire. In a way there's so much about my background in residential design that is applicable to a hotel, because ultimately the best hotels are where people feel at home, but in an aspirational way. You want the combination of home with oh-my-gosh-this-is-so-sexy, I feel my best most glamorous self in it. So, it has been an incredible experienceand I look forward to the next one.

Where did you get your ideas from for this project?

France. That was the brief from owner Navid. He is the creative visionary and it's very much inspired by 18th-century French interiors. Luckily, I've been going to France since I was a child, so in addition to the research I would normally do on a project like this, I already have that visual vocabulary, so it just all came together. The idea was also to do something that is very much in the spirit of today, so while it looks to the past for inspiration, it's very forward-looking. Also, Navid has this effortlessly cool way about him and we wanted the interiors to reflect that. Though I don't think any of the spaces are trying too hard.

What's the most French thing about it?

I think it's the articulation of the walls. I think the French do that really well. It's not just the panelling, it's the wall covering, the layering, the mirrors and the lighting. I always think of lighting as the jewellery. It's that icing on the cake that pulls it all together and that's something else the French do really well.

You have used a lot of wallpaper

That was another really fun thing, and they're all different – I basically went through all the Pierre Frey books. We did something that I don't think has ever been done before – some of those patterns have always been printed on cotton and we were printing them on velvet, so we have the same pattern on the furniture as on the walls, which is a very French thing – says the Cuban American woman!

What do you want people to feel when they walk through the door?

From the design strategy, I want people to feel incredibly comfortable, but design is just one of the layers – it's everything from the service to the food, all of it is closely woven together so that the experience is holistic. The design is just there to reinforce that.

There's some great lighting going on

I want everyone to look beautiful in the rooms. I had all of the lampshades lined in a Champagne colour so that it casts a prettier glow. And we have plenty of chandeliers.

The ones on the ceiling in the restaurant were made by Tyson London in Sussex – I watched them blow the glass. We had a lot made locally, in fact, including those tasselled lights on the walls in the restaurant, which were made to my design. I do love a tassel.

Do you have a favourite spot in the hotel?

They're all so unique and that is somethingI really wanted – for each space to have its own identity and own narrative, so it's hard for me to say which is my favourite. OK, I love the stairs – the crispness of the cream and the black, and the cream and red runner, which was a bespoke design by Pierre Frey for the Twenty Two. And the unisex bathroom downstairs is also one of my favourite rooms, largely because of the panelling. It was inspired by Napoleon's billiard room at Malmaison, which I remember visiting as a 15-year-old. In fact, a lot of those painted lines you see throughout the hotel are inspired by that room.

You use a lot of bold colours – does your Miami/Cuban background play a part in that?

I suppose so, it feels very natural to me. I love colour and I'm not scared of colour. What's the worst that can happen? You repaint a wall. We tested about 26 different shades of blue for the restaurant and I used four shades in the end. But I do think people really like colour.

The Twenty Two is "a modern interpretation of classic maximalism": explain

Maximalism is an exuberant room, full of beautiful things, with layers of pattern, texture and colour. You can find maximalism in the 1770s through to the 1970s. And while London does feel like home, I'm not from here so I wasn't bound by tradition or expectation and that's made a difference – I don't feel limited. I'm sure some historian will tell me that they didn't do that in 18th-century France, but I don't think we care that much – we're just having fun with it.