(Corrected on March 26 to change the name of Dexter Moren Associates in the 10th paragraph.)
London's Metropolitan Police force has reached sales of approximately 1 billion British pounds sterling ($1.4 billion) of its property over the past 10 years, according to the Greater London Authority — and much of that sought-after architecture has been developed as hotels.
Police stations and magistrate courts, many built in the architectural heyday of Victorian England, appear ready-made for hotels, and have interesting histories filled with infamous characters able to be translated into clever design and guest experiences.
Most of these buildings are listed Grade II, which means all or some parts of their architecture must be kept as is.
One of the most famous police stations in the capital, Bow Street Police Station & Magistrates’ Court, opened in Covent Garden in 1881 and enjoyed notoriety as the scene of the extradition trial to Spain of former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet.
This was the original home of the Bow Street Runners, the unofficial name of the city's first professional police force, which later became known colloquially as the Met. In October 2016, the site was sold to Qatari investment firm Business Trading Co. for 65 million pounds sterling ($90.3 million) to develop a NoMad Hotel with a provisional room count of 100 that is due to open later this year. Operating the hotel will be Sydell Group, owners with hotels under such brand flags as The Ned and The Line.
The building includes a museum chronicling its history. Michael Barrett, owner of arts consultancy The Press Office, said the hotel’s restaurant Side Hustle will be designed to reflect the building’s origins and will occupy the space of the former police station’s main entrance. The hotel bar, Common Decency, will occupy the site's former coal stores, which helped keep both officers and prisoners warm.
Occupying the former Tower Bridge Magistrates’ Court & Police Station, close to City Hall and Tower Bridge, is the Dixon Hotel, part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection. Bought by the Dominvs Group in May 2014 for 15.5 million pounds sterling ($21.5 million), the 193-room, eight-floor hotel opened in December 2018 and was designed by John Dixon Butler in 1905. Dixon’s title was surveyor of the Metropolitan Police, and his architectural style is evident in 30 or so police stations and court buildings in London.
The hotel’s Courtroom bar still shows off the judge’s raised oak bench and canopy, and mugshots lining the walls portray some of the unfortunates scrutinized by the legal lords and ladies.
The former Wood Street police station, a 1966 building in the square mile of the City of London, the historic center of London, was sold at the end of 2019 to Hong Kong-based Magnificent Hotel Investments for a price of 40 million pounds sterling ($55.5 million).
Subject to a 151-year lease, the proposed 261-room hotel will take advantage of the fact that the building previously contained apartments for officers and their families. Architectural firm Dexter Moren Associates plans a two-floor addition, which will be kept in the style of the original.
In early 2020, Whitbread PLC, parent company of Premier Inn and Hub by Premier, acquired the former Snow Hill Police Station in the City of London for a price of 14.9 million pounds sterling ($20.6 million). The hotel firm has a 151-year lease on the six-floor site, and it plans 220 hotel rooms for it.
Jonathan Langdon, acquisitions manager for Central London at Whitbread, said the company’s “strategy is to invest in locations where we see strong, long-term demand … and where we don’t yet have a substantial presence.”
James Anderson, the firm’s property communications manager, said Whitbread is “working really hard to create something special there," and expectations are that London's city government will consider and approve plans to convert the building this summer.
“The team has been working very closely with planning officers at the City of London Corporation on the heritage-led design. The plans involve retaining the Grade II-listed police station, with the Hub by Premier Inn bedrooms designed around a new atrium and new remodeled interventions to the rear,” Anderson said.
The 128-room Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch is in the former site of The Old Street Magistrates’ Court & Police Station, in a district that is now the technology and start-up center of London. Opened as a hotel in 2015, it has a restaurant named Judge & Jury and a sister property also in a London facility for law and order — the former Great Marlborough Street Magistrate’s Court.
Darryn Tanner, general manager of the Shoreditch property, said “both the Courthouse Hotel in Soho and in Shoreditch were developed into luxury lifestyle hotels showcasing many of the original features and history of the building’s former use.
"For example, in both hotels the courtroom was converted into the main restaurant,” Tanner said, adding that the Soho hotel’s restaurant even features the witness dock.
“The prison cells were incorporated within the design and layout of the bars. Guests thoroughly enjoy the … experience knowing they are sitting in a former space full of history,” he added.
The 146-room DoubleTree by Hilton London Greenwich is in the former Greenwich Police Station on Catherine Grove, with its first non-policing use being as a hotel flying the flag of Accor’s Mercure Hotels.
Clink78, the first of a now five-asset portfolio of Clink-branded hostels in London and Amsterdam, occupies the Clerkenwell Magistrates’ Court, close to King’s Cross. The 1849 Clerkenwell building is most famous for the trial of rock band The Clash’s Paul Simonon and Topper Headon, in which the two musicians were found guilty of taking pot shots at pigeons. While no longer a court of law, the building still is owned by the Greater London Magistrates Courts Authority.