The Goring hotel turns to High Court in battle with neighbour

London’s Goring hotel has turned to the High Court in a row with its neighbours over building work it fears will impact its right to light.

The five-AA-red-star luxury hotel is seeking £200,000 damages and an injunction over a planned development in the Grosvenor Gardens House building next door.

Belgravia Mansions Estates, which owns the neighbouring property, is planning to build 42 residential units as well as shops, and a two-storey basement with a wellness facility, storage, and car parking.

Due to an agreement made in 2013, Belgravia is not allowed to start work on its development without taking steps to ensure the impact on the Goring is reduced, according to a High Court claim.

Court papers said this would include building a steel-framed acoustic tunnel along Eaton Lane to control the sound of delivery and waste removal traffic, constructing a tunnel from the hotel to the gym, wellness centre, cinema, and golf simulator, and installing a mature evergreen tree barrier.

Noisy work is to be limited to just four hours a day, and there are other obligation to protect the hotel’s interests, the court will hear. The Goring has argued that Belgravia has breached the 2013 agreement and said the scheme would also interfere with its right to light.

The hotel is seeking an injunction that would require Belgravia to stop any work on the site which would infringe its rights to light, and an injunction requiring it to demolish any part of the development which has interfered with its right to light through the windows.

The hotel also wants an injunction banning Belgravia from working on the development without first complying with the agreement and is claiming damages of more than £200,000.

The Goring was opened by Otto Goring in 1910 and has remained in the same family since. Currently run by Jeremy Goring, it played an important role in the First World War as a command centre for contact with President Woodrow Wilson, and in 1919 Winston Churchill’s mother Lady Randolph Churchill moved in.

Its Dining Room restaurant has held a Michelin star since 2015.

The Goring has been contacted for comment.

Image: Ceri Breeze / Shutterstock