St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London

After decades of anticipation and nostalgic pining, in May 2011, London finally got one of its decaying Victorian jewels restored to something akin to its original glorious gothic grandeur. Perched above St Pancras international train terminal, the Marriott-run Renaissance is the worthy reincarnation of the mid-1870s Midland Grand Hotel, designed by George Gilbert Scott (1811-78), whose CV also includes the Albert Memorial and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The gothic detail overwhelms like few London hotels. There are 245 rooms, 20% of which fill the original Midland building in traditional style, while a newly built wing houses the remaining rooms, all decorated with a modern Marriott touch. The stylish, dark and casual in-house BOOKING OFFICE 1869 bar and restaurant — so named because of its location in the station's old booking hall — serves modern European food and also operates the more relaxing and naturally lit adjacent outlet THE HANSOM — a former taxi rank where afternoon tea and all-day coffee-etc is served. The bar doesn't shut until 3am. Opened in April 2023 in the sprawling and gorgeous space occupied (for ten years, until 2021) by Marcus Wareing's fine-dining restaurant Gilbert Scott is chef Patrick Powell's MIDLAND GRAND DINING ROOM (with a [somewhat sadly] more modern decor sensibility). And a smaller bar at the front might still offer an excellent tea-scones-jam-and-cream deal. Plus the ROOFGARDEN ST PANCRAS. Outsiders can catch a glimpse of the hotel's breathtaking staircase, but its upper reaches are accessible to only hotel guests and those taking one of the hotel's organised tours.