New London hotel for Firmdale

Boutique operator Firmdale Hotels is to open a 58-bedroom property on Haymarket in London's West End.

It has secured planning consent to convert Crown Estate-owned buildings on the corner of Haymarket and Suffolk Place, including some Grade II-listed properties designed by John Nash.

The buildings, next to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, have been vacant since a fire in 2002.

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The hotel site in London's Haymarket

Work is due to start on the site in November and will be completed in April 2006. Facilities at the new hotel will include a restaurant, meeting room and a small gym. Firmdale currently operates five boutique hotels and three bars and restaurants, all in London. Planning consent on the Haymarket site was obtained for Firmdale by the central London planning team of property advisors CB Richard Ellis. Buy this week's *Caterer* magazine for more industry news and analysis