The art deco-accented Newman is a brand new hotel in Fitzrovia, yet it feels like something of an old soul. It’s a feeling enhanced by the warmth of the low-lit lobby’s chocolate-brown palette, walnut veneers and shiny chrome. The hotel opened on February 1, but it has been planting roots in its storied neighbourhood for years.
The team has cosied up to the neighbours; among the first in were the owners of a nearby coffee shop, the team from cocktail bar Mr Fogg’s and a Newman Street tattooist. “We’ve been welcomed warmly,” says general manager Oliver Milne-Watson. “People were surprised by how much we’ve reached out and engaged. We’re here to celebrate Fitzrovia and give it the attention it deserves.”
Milne-Watson says when he arrives to work he’s “energised, excited. The design is beautiful and the team has brought the service on top of that. We’re incredibly proud of it and it’s a happy place to be.”
The 81 rooms – which are of varying sizes and pricepoints, including 15 suites and a penthouse with a sauna – continue the lobby’s chocolate-brown aesthetic. London-based design duo Pernille Lind and Richy Almond, of Lind & Almond, say the interior brief was to firmly “feel Fitzrovian”. Their design was informed by walking around the area, people-watching at the cafes and pubs, noting nearby Shropshire House’s bubble-edged balcony (which informed the hotel’s bathroom sinks), and studying vintage photographs.
The design narrative is thoughtfully layered and rich, with a backstory filled with local characters. Photos by Man Ray and Cecil Beaton showed the jazz age poet and activist Nancy Cunard wearing her statement bangles. Lind says those bangles, along with Cunard’s patterned hat, are directly translated into the designs of the lamps, textiles and patterned floors. Linocuts and photos on the bedroom walls include famous Fitzrovians such as James Joyce next to shots of today’s residents. Aleister Crowley, the hedonistic occultist and rogue around town, is given nods – including a snake symbol on the floor of the subterranean Gambit Bar.
Its future as a local hangout is bright thanks to on-site restaurant Brasserie Angelica. There’s also a streetside canopied terrace, a Nordic-inspired spa, a gym, and breathwork and yoga classes in a salt-walled studio. The Gambit Bar – a low-lit speakeasy-style space that, with its wood panelling and copper-patina bar, feels a bit like being on a vintage train – may well grow up to be a local staple. Each signature cocktail has a zero-proof companion, and there’s a stage for live music, plus plans for partnerships with nearby guitar shop Gibson Garage.
Illustrator Imogen Partridge’s local character portraits are found throughout the hotel and on trinket trays on the bedside tables. Those personal touches are ever-present at The Newman. The hotel’s ethos, as Milne-Watson says, is all about “what feels natural. What does the guest need right now? We have hundreds of people here and everyone’s having a different kind of day. It’s about intuiting everything.”
The Newman
50 Newman Street, W1T 3EB
020 3989 8100
