The Savoy Hotel, closed for a £100m refurbishment, will not now re-open till 2010, reports the Evening Standard. Apparently, this delay – to almost a year later than the intended relaunch date – is the result of finding the building’s services in a worse state than expected, and the discovery of some original design features, covered up for decades, which may add interest to the new design.
We can’t help feeling a total lack of surprise about the delay. Firstly, it has surely always been obvious to anyone that the building was totally clapped out: just look at the exterior. Secondly, the budget has always seemed niggardly. £100m may sound a lot of money, but by the standards of restoring palace hotels it’s really not that much: almost a decade ago they spent $125m on the George V in Paris. And thirdly, well, the Harden’s office isn’t that far from the Savoy, and, whenever we walk past we’re always struck by the almost total absence of apparent activity.
PS (26 June) As the general manager of The Savoy (no less) has taken us to task for the “cynical” tone of the above, we’re very happy to note his concern that it does a disservice to his colleagues who “continue to work tirelessly and passionately [to] re-introduce The Savoy to London”.
We do stand by our comments, though. He suggests we fail to understand the complexity of the task: as our first point was that it was always evident that the task was huge, we can’t really accept that.
We are, however, delighted to have confirmation that “exciting plans” for the relaunch are fully underway, and we’ll look forward to bringing you news of those as they develop.
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