She’s the hostess with the mostess, London’s grande dame who has partied through two world wars and welcomed movie stars, politicians and royalty. If her walls could talk, they would whisper about the great and the godly and the bold and the beautiful who have crossed her foyer. The Savoy Hotel London is more than a five-star hotel: she’s a movie star in her own right. Here are 10 fun facts about the Savoy Hotel London, once dubbed the “Greatest Hotel in London”.
The Savoy Hotel London had an operatic start
In 1881 the Victorian impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte launched a theatre in which he could stage the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan: the Savoy Theatre. It made sense to open a hotel next door for the visitors flocking to London to see the “Savoy Operas”, as they became known. The hotel opened in 1889, designed by Thomas Collcutt, who also designed Wigmore Hall. It is often described as Britain’s first luxury hotel. The Savoy group would later include Claridge’s, Simpson’s-in-the-Strand and The Berkeley. You can read more about the man behind it all in Richard D’Oyly Carte: Dead Famous Londoners.
She’s not to be scoffed at
Carte hired the hotelier César Ritz together with the great chef Auguste Escoffier to run the hotel and its dining rooms. The Savoy became a meeting place for tout London, somewhere ladies could be seen eating in public. In 1896 the Duchesse de Clermont-Tonnerre is said to have lit up a cigarette at her table, supposedly the first time a woman had smoked in a London restaurant.
Escoffier created many dishes at the Savoy, including Peach Melba in honour of the Australian soprano Nellie Melba. Melba toast is also linked to her and to the Savoy. It wasn’t long before Ritz and Escoffier left the hotel amid accusations of financial irregularities, after which they launched a hotel of their own. No second guesses for the name of that establishment.
The Savoy Hotel London was a hotel of firsts
The Savoy was among the first hotels in the world to have electric lighting and electric lifts, which were known as “ascending rooms”. It also offered a remarkable number of en-suite bathrooms, with hot and cold running water, for its day. Nervous Victorian guests are said to have been offered a glass of brandy before taking the lift.
She has a sense of drama
The Savoy Hotel London has had plenty of screen time. The final scene of Notting Hill, in which Julia Roberts holds a press conference that a lovestruck Hugh Grant gate-crashes, is set in the Savoy’s Lancaster Room. In the closing moments of The Long Good Friday (1980), Bob Hoskins is abducted outside the hotel by an IRA hitman played by Pierce Brosnan, in what was Brosnan’s first film role.
She put up a good fight
During the Second World War the Savoy had one of the smartest air raid shelters in London and welcomed war journalists, diplomats and statesmen. Winston Churchill’s dining club, The Other Club, met at the Savoy, and the hotel is often linked to Churchill’s wartime circle.
Kaspar the lucky black cat
In the hotel is a black Art Deco cat who has sat quietly with his napkin since 1927. His story starts in 1898, when the diamond magnate Woolf Joel hosted a dinner party for 14 friends. At the last minute one guest pulled out, and since 13 at table was considered unlucky, one of the diners predicted that the first to leave the table would be the first to die. Joel, the first to leave, was shot a few weeks later in Johannesburg.
In 1927 the architect Basil Ionides designed Kaspar to sit in as the 14th guest whenever a table of 13 was booked. The cat inspired Michael Morpurgo’s book Kaspar: Prince of Cats, and there is a Kaspar’s restaurant at the hotel today.
Her views made quite an impression
Claude Monet painted some of his famous views of the Thames from the Savoy Hotel London between 1899 and 1901. He worked from the upper floors, painting Waterloo Bridge and Charing Cross Bridge, and would work on several canvases at once while he waited for the light and the fog to change across the river.
She has had some wilde guests
Oscar Wilde kept rooms at the Savoy, including one for his lover Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas. Hotel staff were later called as witnesses at his trials, where they gave evidence about his stays. Follow his trail across the city in Oscar Wilde’s London: A Walking Tour.
The list of guests is long. The future Edward VII, Sarah Bernhardt, H.G. Wells, Coco Chanel, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker and Christian Dior are just a few of the stars who have stayed. Going further back, the Savoy stands on the site of the medieval Savoy Palace, which Geoffrey Chaucer knew well. A plaque by the hotel recalls Peter, Count of Savoy, who in 1247 brought “many beautiful foreign ladies” from the courts of Europe to marry them off to his wards, a large number of rich young English nobles. Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier are also said to have first met at the Savoy Grill.
She’s gone with the wind
This clever piece of engineering can be found on Carting Lane, beside one of the hotel’s side entrances. It looks like a pretty Victorian street lamp, but it is in fact a sewer gas lamp, designed to draw off and burn the methane from the sewers below and so prevent explosions. In honour of its gassy connections, the lane is affectionately known as Farting Lane.
She has a steamy side
Staying with the smelly side of the Savoy, the perfumers Penhaligon’s created a scent called Savoy Steam. A little birdie told me the inspiration for the name came from the scent of the laundry steam gently diffused on Carting Lane.
The Savoy Hotel London is part of the Fairmont group. For more information, you can visit the Savoy Hotel London website.
First written in 2018 and updated since. Opening details and services change, so please check the hotel’s website before you visit.