The Ned: we take a look at London's most ambitious new hotel opening
click here to see pictures from the launch party). Janet Harmer checks out how the £200m project will create a unique hospitality offering for the Square Mile
Nick Jones never intended to open a hotel in the City of London. The capital's financial centre is not a typical location for an outpost of Soho House & Co, the company founded by Jones 22 years ago and renowned for attracting guests and members from the media and entertainment industries.
However, the moment he walked into the former Sir Edwin Lutyens-designed Midland Bank building on Poultry, just a minute's walk from the Bank of England, Jones was bowled over by what he saw.
Jones, named by The Caterer as the 2015 Hotelier of the Year, had been tipped off about the building by the landlord of Little House, one of 18 members' clubs owned and operated by Soho House & Co worldwide. "I wasn't particularly keen to go along, but I didn't want to appear rude," he recalls.
It proved to be a fortuitous visit, leading to the opening five years later of the Ned, unquestionably one of London's most ambitious hotel launches for some time. Featuring 252 bedrooms, nine restaurants, two swimming pools - one on the rooftop and one in the basement - a spa, members' club and much more, the Ned is a beautiful, multifaceted beast, which required the help of a partner to create.
er speaking to Ron Burkle, the American investor who acquired a 60% stake in Soho House & Co in 2012, Jones met with Andrew Zobler, the founder and chief executive of Sydell Group. Burkle is also the main financial backer of Sydell Group, a company that has experience of grand renovation projects through the opening of six hotels in the US during the past five years.
"That was the start of our collaboration and it's been fantastic," enthuses Jones. "We love each other more than we did at the beginning, which is unusual when you're involved in a project of this scale."
While Soho House & Co has extensive experience of developing a variety of hospitality businesses - as well as the members' clubs (12 of which feature bedrooms and welcome non-members), it has also created 16 restaurant brands - nothing comes close to the scale of the Ned, which covers nearly 30,000 square metres.
Large in scale and delivery "Working with Andrew has been a great education," says Jones. "I've learned so much about how to manage a project of great complexity, whether it has been how to install elevators that work for the 21st century within a 1920s building or create eight restaurants within the old banking hall. Everything about the hotel is large in scale and delivery."
For Zobler, a lawyer turned hotel developer, the attraction of the Ned was immediately apparent. "I love old buildings with provenance," he says. "As well as being a grand historical building, the Ned has many subtle touches. It is an extraordinary property that I fell in love with. Our job was to help Soho House best use the space - something other developers had not been able to work out."
Zobler's widespread experience has included turning an early 20th century former office building into the 168-bedroom NoMad in New York and creating the 388-bedroom the Line within a 1960s brutalist building in Los Angeles. However, the Ned, named after Lutyens' nickname, was by far the largest project he has been involved with so far.
"The trick in a building of this size is to make a large space appear intimate and personal. Both Nick and I share the same philosophy of wanting to create intimate hotels with clubby spaces that delight the guests."
The partnership has been highly complementary, with Soho House injecting its renowned creative flair and Sydell providing the skillset of the big developer who is renowned for completing projects on time and on budget.