Hi again, after a week of downtime due to a server ‘impairment’ (we all have one!) we’re back and running. It had to be the week when I met (read ambushed) Alan Hansen at The London EDITION in Berner’s St., London.
I’ll tell you about the hotel first – The EDITION appealed to me as they say it’s the ‘antithesis of a chain’, something BBS always tries to seek out. It used to be the old Berner’s Hotel and even though it’s part of the Marriott brand it is definitely individual, as you’d expect from an Ian Schrager designed hotel. We’ve reviewed his other hotels in London which include The Sanderson and St, Martin’s Lane which both have good accessibility and more than just one disabled room. The same is true here as they have 6 rooms with disabled facilities.
The Lobby has kept a lot of the features of the Berner’s Hotel including some lovely understated stained glass windows in the arches of the windows just below the beautifully restored high ceilings. There’s a snooker table, plenty of comfy settees as well as a bar all in the large reception area. The Vermillionnaire cocktail was a gem!
The floor has the original chequered black & white tiles and is quite smooth to walk/wheel over. There are rugs to watch out for (I’m not talking about those to be found on the head of some Z List celeb, this is very much an A List place), but there’s also plenty of space to manoeuvre. A fully equipped & smart disabled toilet is by main reception and the lift lobby so not too far from the main bar and restaurant but there is a plush carpet to contend with.
The rooms are brilliant they’re very simply designed with oak furniture and wood floors. Everything is at the correct wheelchair height, even the wardrobe rails – great attention to detail! Oh and the mini-bar has a small bottle of Krug Champagne – style in a bottle! The bathroom is also great as it’s a wet room shower with plenty of room and for once the shower seat is large enough so you won’t feel unstable, unlike the tiny ones you get in most hotels. The only negatives are the grab rails which are not quite long enough if you’re a ‘high grabber’ like me and the fact you have to wheel along a plush carpeted corridor to get to the room – but that’s really ‘picky’!
Another reason to love it here apart from celeb spotting, is the Berners Tavern restaurant, just off reception, run by one my favourite chefs Jason Atherton, he of Maze & Pollen Street Social fame. We only had a light snack but they were inventive and delicious. The Punch Room bar wasn’t open but it’s apparently a dark, ‘gentleman’s club’ kind of style, where you can have “one of eight carefully crafted speciality punches including the gin infused EDITION Punch with jasmine tea and oak moss”. Great excuse to go back and try.
EDITION London gets a well deserved maximum 3 BBS Ticks
So what of Alan Hansen you ask, well he was in the restaurant having lunch and I said to my companion, Lieutenant No 2, White rabbit, ‘If he smiles at me I’m going to talk to him’! Well he did and I did, but my command to stop pushing my wheelchair went unheard, so I was trying to introduce myself whilst being wheeled in the wrong direction. I then shouted stop and everyone seemed to obey which was embarrassing but funny. Anyway I carried on full of bravado and rather than tell him about Blue Badge Style I went off on one about how I loved him on MOTD (which is true as I’ve learnt loads about defensive tactics from him). I also mentioned how I was a MAN UTD fan and it turned out so was he, I was all the time apologising for interrupting his lunch but he said he didn’t mind so I carried on. I then thought I should introduce myself to his companions, one of which didn’t appear to be happy with my intrusion so I asked him if he was an ex footballer – he said no, he was the Head of ITV Sport – I replied that’s nice and moved onto the next guy who was more humorous and it turns out he was Head of Media at Saatchi & Saatchi. So I gave them all my cards and left asking Alan to be an Ambassador for BBS, so if you’re reading this Alan please get in touch. I have to say he was lovely and very chatty which was a blessing otherwise I would have been really red-faced (& not from drink).
So that brings me onto the Bonfire of In-Abilities. All next week up to Bonfire Night we’re looking at things that should help the less able but don’t; things that annoy and even people who should know better. We’re then going to have a Symbolic Bonfire of everything we find ‘in-ables’ rather than enables our lives so get in touch, have a rant. After that we’ll get back to a more positive point of view with the run-in to the ‘C’ word.