"British Home Sweet British Home"
The Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly Hotel stands just a few yards from Piccadilly Circus, a spot the British long held to be the centre of their Empire, and Leicester Square. Like all mythical places, both abound in larger than life legends and reveal the quintessence of the nation's art de vivre.
Piccadilly Circus takes its name from the word "piccadils" that referred to the high cut-work lace collars that made the fortune of Robert Baker, a tailor who was one of the first landowners in West London in the 17th century. In the Greek Pantheon, Eros, the god of sensual love, had a twin brother, Anteros, the god of requited love. It is the way of the world that Eros has always had the people's favour to the detriment of Anteros, to such an extent that the statue that stands in the centre of the fountain on Piccadilly Circus has mistakenly become one of the universal symbols of London. It is in fact a statue of Anteros in a far more suitable metaphor of the philanthropic personality of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury to whom it is a memorial. The statue moreover stands at the entrance to Shaftesbury Avenue and the bow originally pointed towards Winborne Saint Giles in Dorset where the Earl's estate was located. In echo of this popular misconception, the Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly Hotel was at one point called the Eros Hotel. This is however understandable, given that the neighbourhood itself was something of a red-light district up until the early 20th century.
The West End, where the Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly Hotel is located, is as closely associated today as ever it was with London's night-life. The Criterion Theatre, for example, was the home of the Reduced Shakespeare Company that rose to fame staging The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) in an irreverent and hilarious fast-paced romp through the bard's 37 plays in just 97 minutes. Other notable neighbours of the hotel include the Apollo Theatre, the Lyric Theatre and the Gielgud Theatre, among many others, all of whose shows can be booked by the hotel. The centrepiece of Leicester Square, home for its part to some of London's finest cinemas, is a statue of Charlie Chaplin, in a tribute to the humble beginnings of the starving actor when he played pantomime in the local theatres, before hopping on a ship to New York.
The hotel itself is a stylish example of English tradition, combining as it does the character of a Victorian red brick and stone facade with an often daring modern interior design. The rooms and communal areas of the hotel also feature this distinctive alchemy of tradition, humour, elegance and comfort, in a living portrait of the inimitable charm of London's population, where one is as just as likely to see a City golden boy complete with bowler hat strolling down the same street as a flamboyantly dressed young woman. It is impossible to resist the appeal of the comfortable dark wood four-poster beds or the daring and refreshing colour scheme of the breakfast room. Admire the quality of the carefully chosen curtain fabrics and the virtuosity of the hi-tech multimedia installations (most of the bathrooms are equipped with televisions positioned in such a way that they can be seen while relaxing in a soothing bath). Savour the fine sheets of Egyptian cotton and the complimentary basket of fresh fruit in your room, before testing the state-of-the-art sports equipment in the fitness centre. Don't hesitate to treat yourself to a cup of top-quality tea in your room and indulge in a spot of unadulterated tradition. The hotel abounds in tiny details that reveal its devotion to its guests' comfort: fresh flowers changed daily in the rooms, heated mirrors that don't steam up in the bathrooms, mood lighting, etc. England is that unique land that invented both tourism and the legendary concept of home comfort, symbolised by the expression "Home Sweet Home". And as the Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly Hotel brilliantly illustrates, this apparent paradox is simply enhanced and offset by touches of tongue-in-cheek humour.
| Best Western Premier Shaftesbury Piccadilly Hotel |
| 65-73 Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly, England, GB, London, England - W1D 6EX |
| Phone: +44 (0) 207 871 6000 Fax: +44 (0) 207 745 1207 |
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