The Ned is the old Midland Bank headquarters on Poultry, a Grade I listed Portland stone block that Sir Edwin Lutyens began in 1924 and that was still being extended through the 1930s. Midland disappeared into HSBC in 1992 and the building eventually emptied out. In May 2017, after a four-year restoration, Soho House and New York's Sydell Group reopened it as a hotel wrapped around a private members' club, named for the architect, whom his friends called Ned. It is now privately owned by Ron Burkle, who also holds the majority of Soho House & Co, though the two clubs are separate and membership of one buys nothing at the other.
There are 250 bedrooms, sold by floor area rather than by view, which is the honest way round in a building whose windows mostly face other offices. Crash Pads start at 17 square metres and can only be booked by telephone, Cosy runs 20 to 30, Medium 25 to 35, and Large and Heritage both land at 35 to 45. Only one step genuinely changes what you are sleeping in. Heritage and Grand Heritage sit on the Grade I listed fifth floor, where Lutyens's French-polished walnut panelling and marble fireplaces are original. Everything below that is a careful 1920s reconstruction, with heritage walnut beds, glass palm chandeliers and full-size Cowshed products.
The ground floor is the reason to come. Seven restaurants fill the 3,000 square metre banking hall and the floor beneath it, under 92 verdite columns and the bank's own walnut counters: Millie's Lounge for British cooking and afternoon tea, Cecconi's for Italian, Lutyens Grill for 45-day-aged rare breed beef in the former bank manager's office, then Malibu Kitchen, Kaia, Electric Bar & Diner and The Parlour, which runs jazz and cabaret over dinner. Nickel Bar plays live music from morning until late. Downstairs, Ned's Club Spa is built around a 20 metre pool with a sauna, steam room and treatment rooms, adults only, and the 620 square metre gym runs more than forty classes a week.
The trade-off is the membership line drawn through the building. Ned's Club Upstairs, the rooftop with the heated pool and the two converted domes, is for members and their guests, and the only guest access the hotel publishes is a seven to ten in the morning window for children. The Vault in the old strongroom and the Library Bar are members' rooms too. The spa and the gym are complimentary only if you book direct, and a discretionary five per cent service charge lands on the room bill. Take it for the building, the restaurants and a City address two minutes from Bank station. Leave it if you wanted a hotel that keeps the public out.
