BACKGROUND The AMANO Group opened its first property in Berlin in 2009, and owns 11 hotels and four conference centres, with another five projects under development in locations including Leipzig, Hamburg and Munich. The Covent Garden property opened in May 2022, and is the group’s first hotel outside Germany.
WHERE IS IT? On the corner of Russell Street and Drury Lane, about five minutes’ walk from Covent Garden station (Piccadilly line), and slightly further to Holborn station (Central and Piccadilly lines). It’s bang in the middle of Theatreland, next to the Fortune Theatre and opposite the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
WHAT’S IT LIKE? The 141-room hotel is housed within a 1980s former office building known as Drury House. The hotel’s lobby is a chic, statement space with dark wood flooring, designer furniture, and a wave of transparent tube lighting. There is a door leading to Penelope’s restaurant, which also has a separate entrance on Russell Street.
Floors are accessed by a digital display in front of the lifts – you input where you want to go and it tells you which lift to get in. I made the mistake a couple of times of instead pressing the normal call button – the lift arrived, but then there are no buttons inside to tell it where to go, so I had to sheepishly exit and try again.
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