Review: The Langham London hotel

This is our review of The Langham hotel in London.

One of the oldest hotels in London, The Langham has been welcoming guests since 1865, the same year that Lewis Carroll published Alice in Wonderland and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It was considered the first ‘Grand Hotel’ in Europe when it opened. According to Charles Dickens, it had the most expensive hotel meal in London!

The hotel has changed hands multiple times over the years, including as part of the BBC’s offices in the post-war period. It is now part of the Langham Hospitality Group with Langham and Langham Place hotels all over the world, although this is the only European property.

Whilst not part of a major hotel group, The Langham recently launched a new loyalty program called ‘Brilliant’ – you can see our overview here. When we went down for the launch party, we were offered a review stay to take a look at what Langham has to offer.

The hotel website is here.

The Langham London location

Whilst the hotel’s official address is 1C Portland Place, in reality it occupies the top of Regent Street, just a few hundred metres above Oxford Circus.

It’s far enough away to escape the crowds of Oxford Street whilst still being just a one minute walk away. Regent’s Park is to the North, the British Museum and Bloomsbury to the East and Soho to the South. Mayfair and Hyde Park are South-West. All are within a 20 minutes’ walk.

If you need to head further afield, you have the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria Lines from Oxford Circus, just a minute away.

Inside The Langham London

Much of the original 1865 hotel remains, bar for the West Wing which was destroyed in the Second World War. The main entrance is through a small carport, presumably designed for horse-drawn carriages back in the day.

Inside you’ll find the lobby with towering marble pillar and beautiful floral arrangements. The first thing you’ll notice is The Langham’s signature scent, reminiscent of lilies.

Reception and concierge are in a room around to the right:

Despite arriving at around 6pm, when I assumed it would be busy, we were immediately checked in.

Junior Suite at The Langham London

There are 380 rooms and suites in the hotel, far more than I expected. We were upgraded to a Junior Suite at the hotel, which was a pleasant surprise. These are 50sqm.

Depending on which wing you are in, the hotel has up to nine floors and ours was on the top – in the eaves, so to speak. There are two small lifts on this side of the building, or you can take the lovely staircase.

The room opens out onto an open plan desk area:

What immediately struck me was how homely it felt, rather than ‘hotelly’. The decorations, including photographs, books and more seemed lived-in rather than showy.

To the right of the desk was the mini bar area, complete with Nespresso coffee machine, plenty of glassware including two (empty) decanters and a fully stocked fridge of soft drinks and alcohol:

Along the back wall you’ll find the built-in wardrobes with safe, robes etc.

To the left, meanwhile, is the marble bathroom:

There’s a built in tub at one end plus a small-ish shower cubicle next to the toilet cubicle:

The shower heads somewhat date the hotel, with no rainfall shower head, but the pressure and water temperature were fantastic.

The Diptyque toiletries were particularly luxurious – you don’t see them in hotels that often.

Heading back into the room, you have the sitting room with a sofa and armchair:

The fresh tulips were a particularly lovely touch and I almost took them home with me!

Opposite the sofa is the king bed:

When we arrived at around 6pm our room had already been turned down, which was a surprise.

The TV sits on a chest of drawers between the windows:

In terms of view, our dormer windows looked south across the rooftops with the top of the Houses of Parliament peeking out from a distance.

The room is beautiful but dated by technology: the air conditioning controls, whilst perfectly functional, look archaic whilst the lack of sockets or USB ports on either side of the bed is frustrating and ought to be rectified as soon as possible.

Pool and gym at The Langham London

As you’d expect for a hotel of this stature, you have a 16m long pool, spa and fitness centre in the basement. This is located in the Regent Wing and requires a Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award to locate, but I managed to find it in the end.

The pool features Asian influences and is accessible via a hanging feature staircase or lift:

There is a steam room and spa in both the male and female changing rooms.

The gym, upstairs, is relatively large. This is half of it:

Dinner and drinks at The Langham

There are a range of restaurants and bars in the hotel, including a regularly rotating pop-up restaurant (Chez Roux is up next, from 22nd May).

We were invited to The Wigmore, on the South East corner of the hotel. This is a ‘quintessential British tavern’ aka posh pub and appears to be very popular with the after-work crowd. Most of it is available on a first-come-first-served basis, but you can book tables around the back as well.

It’s a stylish space, with high-gloss green walls and ceiling and a statement bar.

I can recommend the buttered crumpets and cock crab for starters, as well as the chilli chicken pastillas:

Mains are priced between £15 and £20. I had the cheeseburger which features ox tongue and was fantastically juicy. My plate looks a bit bare here because I traded my chips for a tomato salad:

After dinner we popped over to Artesian in another part of the hotel. This has won World’s Best Bar four times and is currently listed as #100 in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 (go figure!), so expect prices to match at around £20 for a cocktail. The interiors are slightly steam-punky:

Again, something about the interiors feels homely, rather than showy. It is quite cosy.

Breakfast in the Club Lounge

You may be surprised to hear that the Langham has a Club Lounge: in fact, it is the only 5-star luxury hotel in London to do so.

Breakfast is offered in the iconic Palm Court, but if you have a Club Room you can also opt to have it in the Club Lounge.

I asked the Club Lounge staff what the difference was, and they told me it was basically the same except that the Club Lounge was quieter and more exclusive. Of course, you give up the grandeur of the Palm Court but you more than make up for it with plentiful natural light:

It’s a lovely space. Although I didn’t make it, they also serve afternoon tea and aperitifs here in the afternoon and evening.

The breakfast consists of a small buffet as well as your choice from the a la carte menu. In a twist from tradition, I had the full English:

The buffet covers all the bases and then some, including avruga caviar, a herring product that is designed to look and taste like caviar:

There was plenty of breads, pastries and baked goods on offer:

…. plus smoked salmon, cold cuts and cheese:

Conclusion

Something about The Langham made me feel immediately at home when I arrived. Whilst grand, it never feels over-designed or like a showroom as some hotels do. Rather, everything feels like you could be staying with a (very rich!) friend or relative.

That said, the rooms could do with a tech upgrade particularly in terms of bedside charging.

My stay was elevated with excellent service from the entire staff, including the fabulous waiters at Wigmore and Artesian and the friendly (but ineffably polite) front desk staff.

Room rates start at £500 per night whilst a junior suite is from £1,000 per night. You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.

You will get extra benefits at The Langham if you book via Emyr Thomas, our luxury hotel booking partner. For 2024 bookings you will receive:

• upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
• daily full breakfast for up to two guests per bedroom, served in the restaurant
• $100 equivalent food & beverage credit
• early check-In / late check-out, subject to availability

You pay the Best Flexible Rate showing online and you pay on departure as usual. You can contact Emyr via the form on this page of Head for Points.

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