LONDON LIFE

THE MAYFAIR TOWNHOUSE, HALF MOON STREET, W1

Will 2021 be London’s renaissance?

Last year dealt a hard blow to the hospitality), W1, is actually 15 townhouses that have been knocked through to create a younger, more seductive counterpart to the neighbouring and stately Ritz. Later this year, the trio will be joined by The Peninsula on Hyde Park Corner, W1, Beaverbrook Townhouse on Sloane Street, SW3, and The Londoner, a 350-bedroom boutique-style hotel in Leicester Square, WC2. Where hotels go, restaurants will follow, from the Italian-food-and-wine marketplace phenomenon Eataly, opening early 2021 in Broadgate, EC2, to Covent Garden's Theatre Royal Restaurant, WC2, a collaboration between The Ivy's Richard Caring and Andrew Lloyd Webber, to name but two. Retail therapy comes courtesy of Battersea Power Station, SW11, which is due to re-open as a shopping centre this year. Shops will include Hugo Boss, Space NK and Jo Malone. The future, finally, looks bright.