The new Inhabit Queen’s Gardens, London opens its doors this week
Inhabit Hotels is delighted to announce the soft opening of Inhabit Queen’s Gardens, the fledgling brand’s second London hotel, in Bayswater, W2. The opening, this Friday 29th April, further expands Inhabit’s mission to create restorative, environmentally and socially-conscious places to stay in the city.
Set across a crescent of mid-19th Century townhouses on a tree-lined square near Lancaster Gate, Inhabit Queen’s Gardens is an intimate boutique hotel comprised of considered social spaces and 158 uplifting guest rooms. It has been created with a passion for well-being and living in a way that supports a healthy mind and body, as well as modelling responsible hospitality practices. The public areas include a 70-cover plant-heavy, meat-free restaurant and bar, comfortable lounge areas for socialising and working, and a noise-free library stocked with thought-provoking reads spanning wellness, meditation, social enterprise, holistic health, contemporary art, philosophy, local London and nature. A subterranean wellness area provides treatment rooms, a fitness suite and yoga studio.
Mindfully designed for the modern traveller, everything at this new hotel has been considered with a genuine commitment to environmental initiatives and meaningful community partnerships. The hotel has pledged to work with 100 social enterprises and small, socially-conscious businesses.
Art and design
Holland Harvey Architects, Caitlin Henderson Design and art curators Culture A have collaborated with Inhabit Hotels to create the tranquil new space. Its soothing style blends contemporary Scandi inspiration and Eastern philosophical awareness with quintessential British design.
Inhabit showcases the ingenuity and creativity of craftspeople, working with more than 30 makers and artists to create Inhabit Queen’s Gardens. Goldfinger, an award-winning social enterprise demonstrating that high end design can and should be people and planet positive, has produced bespoke joinery for the hotel throughout the public areas and guest rooms.
Somerset House Studios and Makerversity offer artworks by emerging and established artists to complement and enhance the meditative mood. For visitors and guests inspiration awaits in works by artists such as AnneMette Beck, whose multi-textural art installation welcomes guests as it plays along the wall at reception. Hugo Dalton’s dynamic light drawings nudge visitors to consider nature from a new perspective. Throughout the corridors, guest encounter artwork and photography, with drawings by London-based artist Carlos Peñalver, who drew from life botanicals found in British nature, and photography shot by London-based photographer Harry Adams, who created a series of black and white botanical shots from Kew Gardens.
Social-impacting soft furnishings include Myanmar’s Kalinko Homewares and Studio 306 cushions from Aerende, made by people recovering from and living with mental health illnessess.
Inhabit, a hotel brand founded on the belief that design should have a positive social impact, has focused on using sustainable materials throughout the building’s transformation. One such material is Granby Rock, a custom-made terrazzo produced by Granby Workshop using marble from the original site, which will now form a centrepiece fireplace in the reception. Granby Workshop is a manufacturer of architectural ceramics based in Liverpool, established by Turner Prize-winning assemble as part of a community-led effort to reinvigorate Granby, a Liverpool neighbourhood made derelict by decades of poor planning initiatives. Almost 100% of waste from the hotel’s construction was diverted from landfill via reuse or recycling initiatives.
Guest Rooms
Designed to instantly put guests at ease, each of the 158 rooms at Inhabit has been individually imagined, with thoughtful touches to ensure a restful night. To encourage screen-free time, a phone lock-box has been cleverly integrated into the bedside tables, and the televisions are hidden behind sleek, sliding wooden cabinets. Should guests wish to tune in, a meditation channel has a variety of guided meditation classes to follow. Bespoke aromatherapy allows guests to choose a scent to match their mood on request, whilst Naturalmat handcrafted organic mattresses made in Devon, UK offer a supremely comfortable sleep. Bathrooms are contemporary, with custom coloured concrete basins by Kelham Island Concrete and vanities finished in cork, sustainable Mosa wall tiles, and critall-style shower glazing. In keeping with the Scandi aesthetic, the uplifting, full-size and refillable amenities are from Skandinavisk, a Certified B Corporation (disposable miniatures are not welcome here).
The 10 restorative Queen’s Suites offer particularly plentiful space, with king-size bed, neighbourhood and garden views, and an open plan design with bespoke twin concrete sinks and free-standing bathtubs. Each one has been designed to inspire feelings of calm and serenity, encouraging a free flow of movement, with a minimum of clutter or distraction.
Wellness
Regarding wellness not simply as a physical state, but as a way of being, is at the heart of the Inhabit brand. The new hotel champions social connectedness, intellectual expansion, environmental responsibility, physical and emotional wellness and occupational enrichment. An engaging series of regular workshops, lectures and events is curated by Maria Tsiarta, the Head of Wellbeing, to help guests recharge, invigorate, connect and learn.
'Inhale at Inhabit', the hotel’s wellness centre, hosts a programme of daily activities, including vinyasa flow, transformational Hatha and yin yoga, Pilates and complimentary morning meditation classes. The gym provides the essentials, as well as a Peloton Bike. Guests can join live classes with leading instructors, streamed directly from Peloton’s NYC studio, or choose from a library of studio workouts.
Two treatment rooms offer treatments by GAIA, a natural skincare brand handmade in Britain using traditional artisan production methods. Inspired by ancient Greece's Mother Nature, the GAIA skincare range uses Fairtrade, certified-organic plant extracts sourced from small farms and producers. Treatments include the “GAIA Poultice Massage”, using herbal compresses to heal, soothe and increase the flow of chi; and the “GAIA Yoga Lifting Facial”, a stimulating workout for the face to improve muscle tone and smooth fine lines. The signature “GAIA Raindrop Therapy at Inhale” is an exclusive, 120-minute full body and facial therapy using the purest essential oils to bring balance and harmony both emotionally and physically. This signature ritual incorporates raindrop techniques to the back, spine and feet to soothe and nurture whilst a face cleanse and scalp massage restores peace and serenity. Inhabit Queen’s Gardens is the first London hotel to offer GAIA treatments.
Food & Drink
Inhabit has collaborated with the award-winning Devon health retreat Yeotown to create Yeotown Queen’s Gardens, a 70-cover restaurant serving an imaginative all-day menu in a light-flooded space quite unique to this West London neighbourhood.
On arrival through the main hotel entrance, the charismatic marble bar sits to the left of a light-filled, open plan, free-flowing public space. Surrounding the bar is the main restaurant dining area, with furniture from social enterprise Goldfinger. A secluded space just beyond the bar can be closed to create a private room for intimate celebrations and events, or used as a secondary space for diners in the main restaurant. Here, full length windows face the leafy street beyond, and an ethereal “light drawing” by artist Hugo Dalton comes alive after dark. Comfy lounge and counter seating in the lounge provides additional flexible areas for guests to enjoy coffee, drinks and snacks from the restaurant whilst relaxing, meeting or working.
Carefully curated art adorns the space, including bespoke ceramics inspired by British landscapes by the north London ceramicist Freya Bramble Carter, and textile pieces by Knottinger, consciously handcrafted in small batches by Faryal Aslam in Leeds.
Serving a Californian-inspired menu with plentiful healthy options, the relaxed restaurant fosters mindful eating. Glowing with natural light by day, Yeotown Queen’s Gardens serves a proudly meat-free menu, created with the belief that food should be restorative to both the body and mind, as well as fresh, filling and delicious. The menu is also free from dairy and refined sugars and is largely gluten-free.
Daytime dishes include “blue spirulina pancakes”; “Eggs Benedict on a homemade chia and oat muffin with vegan hollandaise”; “rice paper vegetable wraps”; “beetroot and carrot falafel”; and the signature “Yeotown Bounce Back vegan burger”. In the evening, the dinner menu includes healthy and tempting dishes such as “handmade BBQ cauliflower wings” and “grilled salmon on edamame & mung bean fettucine”. At the bar, focus is given to organic, bio-dynamic and natural wines and small UK spirit producers. Yeotown’s Conscious Cocktails and Mindful Mocktails sit alongside new-gen alcohol-free drinks. Post-yoga, guests can grab an “Innergise” signature protein smoothie, infused with maca and almond butter to nourish the body after movement.
Community
Inhabit supports local social enterprises who share a passion for wellness and commitment to sustainability. The new hotel’s community of collaborators includes Self Care Co., Goldfinger, Be For Change, Globechain, Saira Hospitality, Belu Water, Con-Serve, Who Gives a Crap, IQAir and many more. In the suites, minibars are stocked by Social Supermarket, supporting social enterprises including Harry Specters Chocolate, Boundless Snacks & Crisps, Liberation Nuts, Brewgooder, One Gin, Sea Change wines, Sapling spirits and Lemonaid.
Inhabit is working towards B Corps certification with the goal of being among the first hotel groups in the UK to achieve this eminent standard of corporate responsibility, an accreditation for businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability to balance profit and purpose.
Neighbourhood
This well-connected W2 enclave is a short stroll from two Royal Parks, Notting Hill and the West End. A skip from the green spaces of Hyde Park, the thriving business hub of Paddington Basin, the Grand Union Canal and Connaught Village. Paddington station is only a five-minute walk away, with national rail connections and the direct Heathrow Express airport link.
Nightly rates at Inhabit Queen’s Gardens start from £170, based on double occupancy, room only.