TUCKED away in London’s Bloomsbury, The Academy provides the London hotel experience in an incomparable way. Consisting of five Georgian townhouses on Gower Street, this establishment has been redesigned by New York-based Champalimaud Design to create a vibrant mixture of its original interior and today’s popular, modern aesthetic.
With 50 rooms in total, this boutique hotel has a common theme of tonal colours, extreme comfort and understated glamour – large windows, geometric prints and leather chairs thread themselves through The Academy.
A suite at The Academy
The library at The Academy
Taking inspiration from its location in the capital’s West End, The Academy is embracing the arts by offering their guests a series of literary experiences. Their programme merges culture and intellect at its core with events such as literary walks and a literary collection cocktail menu, as well as its very own book club.
Following the footsteps of Virginia Woolf and George Orwell, past habitués of the area, book-loving guests can immerse themselves in some of the great works of fiction at The Academy.
Suite at The Academy
From the moment of check-in, the hotel offers a copy of the Bloomsbury Book of The Month – curated by Bloomsbury Publishing – as well as an option to borrow a Kindle with a downloaded library stocked with today’s bestsellers. For the bookworms residing in a suite, they can find a copy of one of the Times’ Top 100 Bestsellers on their bedside table to aide their quest for literary adventure.
After a busy day enjoying the streets of London, guests can wind down at The Academy’s library – a quiet sanctuary to escape in. The Academy even hosts book launches and writing workshops for their guests to participate in, in their Genius Lab – also, the headquarters for the London Chapter of The Girly Book Club; a global society with a membership of 80,000.
The Alchemy Bar
New Literary Cocktail
New Literary Cocktail
In tune with World Book Day, The Academy introduced a menu of Literary Cocktails inspired by the great works of fiction at their Alchemy Bar. Paying homage to authors and artists both from the past and present, guests can swap their book for a thought through cocktail in the evenings. Their new signature cocktails are: Old Fashioned Leonard; inspired by Leonard Woolf, The Lighthouse; named after Virginia Woolf’s novel, Belloni; the classic negroni in the style of Vanessa Bell, and Friday Sunrise; a Tequila Sunrise with a twist dedicated to Roger Fry.
It’s clear that The Academy’s effort to echo the history of its neighbourhood within its four walls creates an unrivalled experience for guests, whether you are a bookworm or just dabble in fiction, you can appreciate the hotels respect for its history.
by Imogen Clark
Rooms at The Academy start from £300.