Westminster City Council’s planning committee has granted planning permission for the conversion of Bow Street Magistrate’s Court in London’s Covent Garden into a luxury hotel. The plans had been previously announced in H & C News, but only now have the final details been agreed, including enlargement of the police museum. Substantial contributions are also expected under a Section 106 Agreement.
The Grade II listed former court and police station will be refurbished and extended to transform it into a 99-bedroom hotel with two restaurants and a bar. Four of the bedrooms in the hotel will be created from existing police cells, and the building will also have a police museum at ground floor within the former police station cell block.
Acquired in 2008 by the Austrian Ploberger family who have two hotels in Prague – the Hotel Josef – and the Maximilian Hotel – the £20 million project will not complete until 2015.