ON-TRADE: Waldorf Astoria, Syon Park

The Waldorf Astoria London Syon Park brings luxury to Brentford without being remotely stuffy, writes Gabriel Savage

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The West London suburb of Brentford is not immediately evocative of a luxury hotel break. The imagination is no less stretched upon arrival in a garden centre car park, where a cluster of trailers beside a scaffolded red brick building is more suggestive of a new conference centre than the arrival of one of the world’s biggest luxury hotel brands. But here it is, the Waldorf Astoria London Syon Park, the chain’s 24th site and second in the UK capital, which is due to welcome its first guests at the end of this month.
The location may take a bit of explaining to Waldorf’s international clientele, but general manager Dale MacPhee is quick to highlight the unique benefits of setting up shop within this 200-acre estate which surrounds the Duke of Northumberland’s London home. Comparing the offer here to the luxury hotels of Central London, she points out: “The biggest thing that will stand out compared to The Four Seasons or The Savoy is that this has access to the grounds.” The site includes 40 acres of garden designed by 18th century landscape architect Lancelot “Capability” Brown, whose name runs as a theme through the hotel. Guests will be able to access these private gardens with a key card, opening up a world of butler-accompanied picnics, tai chi sessions, personal trainer workouts, bicycle rides and even guided walks with a local historian – initial excavation work for
the hotel even unearthed a significant Roman settlement.
Syon Park may feel somewhat out of the way by train, but promotes itself as lying just seven miles from both Heathrow Airport and the luxury delights of Knightsbridge. Sadly there is no access by riverboat, but the hotel does offer a car service and helicopter access.
Although the attractions of Central London are close at hand, in many respects Syon Park will operate like a self-contained resort. For refreshment alone, guests can choose from five different food and drink options: flagship restaurant The Capability, Mediterranean hideaway The Clubhouse, pastry chef paradise Brownies, Martini bar Peacock Alley and al fresco rooftop lounge The Deck.

Running throughout the hotel’s offer is the recurring motif of “playful luxury”. From the chocolate sundae while the butler prepares your bath, to the Martini waiting when you get out, the live butterfly wall in the lobby and the display of sweet treats from the pastry chef that greets guests on their arrival; this is a hotel which is striving for individualism within the reassuring luxury framework of its impeccable brand. So pervasive is this playfulness that it extends to grown-up games rooms for the boys and specially designed Coco de Mer goodies in the minibar, although MacPhee quickly stresses that it will be at the “elegant, chic” end of the erotic luxury boutique’s racy range.
While the humidor, games room, trout fishing, archery and shooting amenities all suggest an upmarket boys’ weekend break, the 11 treatment rooms in the Kallima spa offer plenty of diversion for the girls. A series of bespoke collaborations offers guests every indulgence, from products derived from organic, hand-harvested Irish seaweed to non-invasive cosmetic surgery from Alex Karidis.
“It’s not a check in, check out experience,” explains MacPhee, “it’s about the whole time you’re with
us. It’s extremely important we understand why our guests are coming.”
Syon Park is certainly hoping to draw on a broad customer base. MacPhee typifies its weekend business as primarily the “luxury leisure” 30- to 55-year-old crowd, including local visitors from Chiswick and Surrey. Weekdays will have a more corporate clientele, with a handy customer base feeding in from the airport and nearby “Golden Mile”, which houses corporations such as GlaxoSmithKline and BSkyB.

In a bid to make a mark with its food offer, Syon Park has signed Lee Streeton as its executive chef, who brings an impressive background in British cooking from UK institutions including The Savoy, Brown’s Hotel, Caprice and The Ivy. With a 1,600sq m garden to play with at Syon Park, not to mention the foraging and wildlife available on the estate, Streeton admits: “As a chef it’s a dream come true.” For Streeton, the location of Syon Park offers the same perfect balance between urban and rural which the hotel hopes to sell to its guests. He elaborates: “I always wanted to work in the country, but – let’s be honest – London’s where it’s all happening.”
To begin with, Streeton will build his garden around 24 different vegetables, including artichokes, borlotti beans, courgettes and Jersey Royal potatoes. Future plans in this “The Good Life” vision involve the planting of apple and pear trees, which will provide not only puddings, but also chutneys and, perhaps a step further down the road, cider. The team can also make use of its own Bradley smoker to prepare meat and fish. Meanwhile, the herb garden will supply not just the kitchen, but also the Martini bar Peacock Alley, which will even make its own vermouth. Allowing his imagination free rein, Streeton adds: “I’ve got a forager coming up for a tour around – I know there’s wild garlic, figs and crab apples here, but we’ll see what else we find.” Talking to Streeton you don’t doubt that he’s probably weighing up his chances of sneaking a deer farm and piggery past the management as well.
For those craving a dose of urban sophistication, food & beverage manager Erick Kervaon outlines his vision for Peacock Alley, which he describes as “our take on a Martini bar”. Again, the playful theme creeps through with the giant ice block on the bar, which provides the ice for drinks. As well as the theatre this creates, Kervaon insists that compared with smaller cubes of ice, “it makes the drinks clearer and nicer. The ice doesn’t melt and it gives a very clean taste”.

While the Martini will stand as the Peacock Alley signature, expect the team to take inspiration from the Waldorf brand’s own contribution to bartending history, with reinvented classics from The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book. Syon Park’s heritage will also add a more individualistic edge to the drinks list, as Kervaon promises “references to Syon Park and the Duchy of Northumberland”. Cue “The Duchess”, a Laurent-Perrier Rosé cocktail served in a coupe glass,
and the whisky-based “Duke of Northumberland”. Playfulness rears its head once more with the punchbowls available for groups to share, or perhaps take through to the grown ups’ playroom, Duke’s Parlour. Adjacent to the main bar, this offers parties a private lounge complete with pool table and big screens.
Both The Capability and Peacock Alley lead out into a courtyard embellished with a reflecting pool, the UK’s oldest bonsai (180 years old for any pub quiz fans) and space to enjoy the contents of the hotel’s humidor. Rather than following the simple after-dinner brandy and cigar formula, Kervaon promises that Syon Park will be “pushing the boundaries a little bit more”. He believes cocktails, beer and even something as delicate as Champagne can offer an interesting alternative accompaniment to a cigar, especially as a pre-dinner treat. On the premise that “different cigars work well with different styles of drink”, Kervaon has designed a special cocktail list, pairing a spiced apple-based creation with the Montecristo No 2 or a Bourbon cocktail with the Hoyo de Monterrey Petit Robusto. Sceptics and purists may feel Champagne is a bridge too far for this approach – and Kervaon’s exact pairings here are yet to be finalised – but it certainly provides a fun theory to set about dismantling.

Finally, set slightly apart from the main hotel with its own entrance, lies The Clubhouse. Licensed until 3am with its own kitchen, private dining facilities and games room complete with jukebox, 3D television and Xbox, this is being pitched as an ideal after-party location, especially for wedding guests once Syon House closes its doors for the evening.
In contrast to the more extensive 180-bin list at The Capability, head sommelier Roman Colombi has put together a 50-bin wine selection inspired by The Clubhouse’s overall Mediterranean gastronomic theme. In addition to familiar staples, he promises some more unusual offerings. “We’ll have Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but also Israel, Morocco, Lebanon, Italy, Portugal and Corsica,” he outlines. With tapas on the menu, Sherry seems an obvious oversight. Although confirming it will be available at the bar, Colombi explains that he prefers to recommend red wine as a “more traditional” tapas accompaniment. It seems the revival of this drink as an inspired and versatile food partner, led by Central London’s thriving Spanish restaurant scene, has yet to filter down as far as zone 4.
Still, there are plenty of underdogs to champion here and with so many unfamiliar regions represented, Colombi is keen to make many of these wines available by the glass, saying: “I want these wines to be able to be discovered.” This spirit of exploration will also feature at The Capability, where guests will be able to opt for a sommelier selection of two different wines for each course. By and large, Colombi describes The Capability list as “more classic, French- and Italian-dominated”, although Napa Valley will also feature prominently. He reveals that the restaurant has set up an exclusive deal with an as yet unnamed Burgundy producer, and alongside the big names on the Champagne list will be three Champagnes from “a very, very small producer”.

Robbie Bargh, founder of Gorgeous Group, who worked with Syon Park’s owners The Ability Group to develop the entire bar and restaurant concept, explains his approach to the brief. “You’ve got to stay relevant to the brand, to London and to what’s going on in the world, but make sure it sticks out,” he summarises. In terms of references, Bargh outlines the number of strands which needed to be pulled together within a single concept, observing: “There’s town meets country, playful luxury, the Waldorf Astoria’s iconic American luxury, the amazing heritage of Syon Park and what’s in season in terms of food and cocktail ingredients. We based our platform on that.” Above all, he maintains: “You need to do something very respectful of the past to move forward.” Factoring in the anticipated broad clientele base, Bargh emphasises: “You’ve got to be very mindful of the demographic – we had to create concepts that the locals would enjoy in terms of both price and offer.”
All in all, the opening of Syon Park marks a major development in London’s luxury hotel landscape, accompanied no doubt by a suitably loud media fanfare. It’s certainly an ambitious project, and with its Waldorf pedigree the first wave of critics are unlikely to take any prisoners. Can this quiet London
suburb of Brentford put itself on the global map? If anyone can, this seems
to be the team to do it. db