Revamp for St Martins Lane bars as hotel announces expansion

Following reports last week (DW 6 October) that the Philippe Starck-designed Asia de Cuba restaurant in London’s St Martins Lane hotel is being revamped, Design Week can exclusively reveal that the hotel is expanding and has snapped up a lease for an adjoining site.

Ian Schrager’s Morgans Hotel Group will take over an adjacent complex, formerly known as the Site Bar, according to a spokeswoman for the group. The team behind the St Martins Lane hotel is holding ‘discussions’ with designers to redevelop the site as a leisure venue, which includes a cinema space.

‘The space is currently not being used for anything and is awaiting redevelopment. At this stage it is undecided if it will be turned into an event space, or a bar, or something else,’ adds the spokeswoman.

The existing bars in St Martins Lane hotel – including the Light Bar and Rum bar in Asia de Cuba, which feature pub-inspired ‘lean on’ tables – are likely to remain, but may be overhauled under the new designs.

The interior design concept for Asia de Cuba, the fusion restaurant chain run by Jeffrey Chodorow of China Grill Management Group, is also likely to be revamped. One idea in the pipeline includes plans to introduce a ‘sharing table’ concept into the dining area, as used in its New York eatery.

It is understood that designers for the project have yet to be appointed.