Italian-based Starhotels Group relaunch the Franklin Hotel in London on 1st August 2016. Franklin Hotel comprises a range of Victorian terraced house overlooking Egerton Gardens in Knightsbridge.  The hotel has been closed for over a year undergoing a major refurbishment.

The new-look Franklin Hotel is now an intimate hotel with 35 suites, a restaurant, cocktail bar, study with open fireplaces, hammam and spa – all styled by  designer Anouska Hempel.

Expect spacious, elegant guestrooms with queen or king-sized beds; soft furnishings with a strong Italian influence; bathrooms with separate walk-in showers or bathtubs plus the latest technology throughout.

The Franklin joins The Gore and The Pelham, two other London hotels which form part of the Starhotels Group.

The Franklin is a close Knightsbridge neighbour of Harrods and the V&A Museum.

Details: http://www.starhotels.com/en/starhotels-in-london/the-franklin.html

 

 

 


Hotel Megaro in central London opened a new meeting facility -  St Pancras Meeting Rooms - earlier this year.

St Pancras Meeting Rooms comprises six meetings rooms and is located in St Chad’s Street. St Pancras Meeting Rooms is independent of Hotel Megaro and is just 100 metres from Kings Cross, St Pancras International stations.

The rooms at St Pancras Meeting Rooms are equipped with the latest SMART intuitive technology including super-fast wi-fi, 48-82” LED Ultra HD SMART, touch-screen televisions, digital whiteboards, whiteboard walls and flip charts.

The largest room will seat up to 22 delegates. There is a ‘refuelling’ station for refreshments during the day plus breakfast and lunch.

Each room is unique and built for purpose: interview in the Study, innovate in the Library, hold an AGM in the Boardroom and brainstorm new initiatives in the Games Room.
Meeting rooms are available to hire by the hour, half day or full day.

Hotel Megaro is located in Belgrove Street a short walk away from St Pancras Meeting Rooms. It is a six-storey hotel adorned with London’s largest mural.  Hotel Megaro has 49 boutique styled bedrooms plus a restaurant and bar. They also operate eight apartments independent of the hotel but with access to the full facilities offered by Hotel Megaro.

Details: http://www.stpancrasmeetingrooms.co.uk


In a crowded market place it pays to specialise in one sector and arrange all marketing and sales activity accordingly. This appears to be what Tobacco Dock in London is doing.

Tobacco Dock is ‘re-positioning’ itself as London's quarter for live events and expos with the strapline 'The community for the ideas generation'. In short Tobacco Dock will be marketing itself in future as the destination for creative and emergent events and exhibitions.

Tobacco Dock offers conference and events space in the heart of Wapping in East London. Event spaces are pared back and stylish with quayside views, natural daylight and an outdoor environment as well as an advanced IT infrastructure.

Tobacco Dock extends over two levels with more than 16,000 sq-mt of ‘blank canvas’ events space.

Ground level is home to the Great Gallery and Little Gallery, East Mall and Quayside spaces – all with natural daylight, listed timber beams and exposed brickwork - suitable for consumer events, conferences and expos.

Vaults level features Victorian barrel-vaulted ceilings as well a number of courtyards - space suitable for smaller conferences, exhibitions and parties.

Tobacco Dock in located in Wapping Lane. Tower Hill is the nearest tube station. Shadwell the nearest DLR station with both Shadwell and Wapping the nearest overground stations.

http://tobaccodocklondon.com/


Big brewery groups down to the craft brewery outfits and pub chains are falling over themselves to open small hotels at the moment. Wetherspoons are planning two openings this summer. Marston’s  Brewery have another on the drawing board. Brewdog, a craft brewery in Aberdeen is looking to open its version of a hotel to be called ‘The Kennel’.

The first new Wetherspoon development will be a pub with a 12-bedroom hotel attached - to be named The Greenwood Hotel (pictured). It is located in Northolt in north-west London. The Greenwood Hotel is scheduled to open in early July 2016.

Their second new hotel will be in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire.  Wetherspoons are converting the Grade II-listed Old Post Office and George Hall alongside  into a pub with a 20 bedroom hotel attached. The new name for the pub and hotel will be Sandford House which was the name for the Old Post Office when it was a private residence.

Sandford House is expected to open late July or early August 2016.

The two new additions will take the Wetherspoon portfolio to 40 hotels.

Further north brewing company Marston’s Brewery has applied to Derby City Council for permission to build a new two-storey 39-bedroom Marston’s Inn next to the Blue Jay pub in Alvaston. If planning permission is granted, building work would start later this year.

Even further north in Aberdeen, the craft beer brewery Brewdog is set to open a hotel after raising £19million in a crowdsourcing funding venture.

Brewdog is planning a beer themed hotel dubbed The Kennel. The Kennel will be located in Aberdeen, close to their original brewery in Ellon. The new hotel could feature some unusual ideas such as draught beer on tap, mattresses made from malt, a jacuzzi filled with pale ale and a homebrew kit by the bed – with no two rooms the same.

No opening dates have been published but construction of the hotel could be starting shortly.

 


The Megacentre in Sheffield is a modern purpose-built conference centre built by Hope City Church, a contemporary Christian church. Their facilities are now available to hire.

The Megacentre has eight fully equipped suites. The largest room, The Concert Hall, will accommodate up to 700 delegates theatre style. The smallest will seat four or five people for a boardroom or training session.

All the rooms are contemporary in style with standard equipment, including flip charts, white boards, pens and Megacentre note pads. Additional equipment such as data projectors, laptops, high-speed internet connectivity, tables and extra flip charts can be arranged. Meeting rooms can be booked by the day or by the half-day.

A full catering package is available.

The Megacentre is located just off the Sheffield Parkway and a ten minute walk from the city centre. Megacentre has 80 free of charge parking spaces on site.

http://www.themegacentre.com/