United Kingdom

Cliveden is built for the Duke of Buckingham; it becomes a hotel in 1985

William Fortnum and Hugh Mason open a grocery in St James's Market Fortnum & Mason

Fortnum & Mason claims the invention of the Scotch egg Fortnum & Mason

Borough Market moves to its present site off Borough High Street ⚑ trade on the site is documented from the twelfth century Borough Market

Thomas Rule opens Rules as an oyster bar — five owners in the 228 years since Rules

Augustus Smith takes the lease of the Isles of Scilly and begins rebuilding Tresco

James Brown, valet to Lord Byron, opens Brown's in Mayfair

Scott's opens as an oyster warehouse in Coventry Street Scott's

The Arts Club founded on Dover Street by Dickens, Trollope and Lord Leighton The Arts Club

The Langham opens as the largest and most modern hotel in London

Glenapp Castle is built in Ayrshire; it opens as a hotel in 2000

The Midland Grand opens at St Pancras, by George Gilbert Scott

Fortnum's becomes the first shop in Britain to stock Heinz baked beans Fortnum & Mason

The Savoy opens under Richard D'Oyly Carte — Britain's first luxury hotel: electric light throughout, electric lifts, private bathrooms The Savoy

César Ritz arrives at the Savoy in August and brings Auguste Escoffier (LHL-P-005) with him Auguste Escoffier

The American Bar opens at the Savoy — the oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain American Bar, The Savoy

Both are dismissed from the Savoy over missing wine and spirits The Savoy

The Berkeley opens at Piccadilly; it moves to Knightsbridge in 1972

Claridge's is rebuilt by the D'Oyly Carte company and reopens

The Balmoral opens at Edinburgh Waverley as the North British Station Hotel

William Neatby tiles the Harrods meat hall for Doulton in nine weeks; a Viennese art journal compares it to a church Harrods Food Halls

Harrods opens its food halls, tiled by W. J. Neatby Harrods Food Halls

Escoffier publishes Le Guide Culinaire, codifying cuisine classique and the kitchen brigade Auguste Escoffier

Ada Coleman becomes head bartender of the American Bar, holding the post until 1926 American Bar, The Savoy

The Ritz London opens on 24 May by Mewès and Davis — a steel frame and a private bathroom in every room The Ritz London

Harry Gordon Selfridge opens on Oxford Street with a Silence Room that sells nothing Selfridges

Harry Gordon Selfridge opens on Oxford Street and puts cosmetics on the ground floor Selfridges

Otto Goring opens the Goring; it remains the only London grand hotel still family-owned

The Coburg is renamed the Connaught during the First World War

Gleneagles opens in Perthshire, built by the Caledonian Railway

Burgh Island Hotel opens off the Devon coast, built by Archibald Nettlefold — art deco on a tidal island reached by sea tractor

Harry Craddock compiles The Savoy Cocktail Book American Bar, The Savoy

The Dorchester opens on Park Lane, one of the first hotels built of reinforced concrete

Burgh Island is extended; its restaurant still carries the Nettlefold name

Pan Am forms Intercontinental Hotels to serve its own routes across Latin America InterContinental Hotels & Resorts

Gravetye Manor opens as a hotel in William Robinson's Elizabethan house and garden

Mark Birley opens Annabel's at 44 Berkeley Square on 4 June Annabel's & the Birley Clubs

Chewton Glen opens in the New Forest

Michael Chow opens Mr Chow in Knightsbridge on 14 February — Beijing food, Italian waiters, no chopsticks Mr Chow

Lord and Lady Macdonald open Kinloch Lodge on Skye

James Sherwood buys Hotel Cipriani — the origin of Belmond Belmond

Richard Branson flies to the British Virgin Islands looking for somewhere to house his record label’s artists, and buys Necker Island instead Virgin Limited Edition

Anouska Hempel opens Blakes in South Kensington — the first designer hotel

Cecconi's opens in Mayfair Cecconi's

Neal's Yard Dairy opens in Covent Garden and begins buying from named farmhouse makers Neal’s Yard Dairy

Richard Branson buys Necker Island; Virgin Limited Edition grows from it Virgin Limited Edition

Cheval acquires its first property in Cheval Place, Knightsbridge

James Sherwood returns the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express to service after five years of restoration Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

Venice Simplon-Orient-Express returns to service after James Sherwood's five-year restoration Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

British Pullman begins running restored Pullman carriages from London British Pullman

The Groucho Club opens at 45 Dean Street on 5 May The Groucho Club

Kit and Tim Kemp open their first Firmdale hotel in London Firmdale Hotels

The Royal Scotsman begins running through the Highlands Royal Scotsman

Keith Haring paints Mr Chow as Green Prawn in a Bowl of Noodles Mr Chow

Olympia & York sign the £3 billion master building agreement for Canary Wharf Canary Wharf, London

Small Luxury Hotels of the World is formed in Britain to market independent houses collectively Small Luxury Hotels of the World

Golden Eagle Luxury Trains begins operating the Trans-Siberian route Golden Eagle Luxury Trains

The Lanesborough opens in the former St George's Hospital on Hyde Park Corner

Susan Harmsworth founds ESPA ESPA

Terry Farrell’s practice draws the master plan for the air rights over Kowloon Station Terry Farrell

The Eastern & Oriental Express makes its inaugural Bangkok–Singapore journey Eastern & Oriental Express

The Barclay brothers buy the Ritz London The Ritz London

Nick Jones opens Soho House above a Greek Street restaurant, for people in the creative industries Soho House

Rocco Forte founds RF Hotels after Granada takes the Forte Group Rocco Forte Hotels

Granada takes Forte Group with a hostile £3.9 bn offer; the family founds Rocco Forte Hotels the same year Forte Group — Trusthouse Forte

Sir Rocco Forte and Olga Polizzi found Rocco Forte Hotels in the year Granada takes their father’s Forte Group Sir Rocco Forte

Cowshed is born in the old cow shed at Babington House — the only space available for a spa, and the name sticks Cowshed

Branson opens his own island home to buyout guests; Virgin Limited Edition begins Virgin Limited Edition

Alan Yau opens Hakkasan at Hanway Place in April Hakkasan

Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney open Zuma in Knightsbridge Zuma

Sketch opens on Conduit Street in December Sketch

Azumi Restaurant Group is founded; Zuma, ROKA and Oblix follow Azumi Restaurant Group

The Hiram Bingham begins running from Cusco to Machu Picchu Hiram Bingham

Soho House takes over Cecconi's Cecconi's

Carole Bamford opens the first Bamford Haybarn at Daylesford Bamford Wellness Spa

Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding buys the Savoy; Fairmont takes management The Savoy

Mark Birley sells the Birley clubs to Richard Caring in June; dies two months later Annabel's & the Birley Clubs

Dorchester Collection is established Dorchester Collection

The Connaught Bar opens, designed by David Collins Connaught Bar

Greg Marsh founds onefinestay in London to let private homes with hotel service onefinestay

The Savoy reopens on 10 October after a £220m rebuild — the costliest hotel renovation on record The Savoy

Coworth Park opens in Ascot under the Dorchester Collection

Dinner by Heston opens at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

Novikov opens in Mayfair — the first outside Russia Novikov

The Set Hotels begins with the Conservatorium in Amsterdam The Set Collection

Robin Birley opens 5 Hertford Street in June 5 Hertford Street

Coya opens in London Coya

Orient-Express Hotels renames itself Belmond Belmond

Sexy Fish opens on Berkeley Square, 19 October Sexy Fish

Iconic Luxury Hotels is formed around Cliveden, Chewton Glen and the Lygon Arms Iconic Hotels & Resorts

The Set is formed from the Café Royal, the Conservatorium and the Mark The Set Collection

Virgin opens its first hotel in Chicago Virgin Hotels

Paddy McKillen's Maybourne passes to Qatari ownership after a long dispute Maybourne

Beaverbrook opens in Lord Beaverbrook's Surrey house

THG buys ESPA for a reported £100m ESPA

The American Bar is named World's Best Bar in the 50 Best, at 124 years old American Bar, The Savoy

Hurricane Irma destroys most of Necker Island on 6 September; most structures are rebuilt by April 2018 Virgin Limited Edition

The Belmond Andean Explorer begins service — the first sleeper train in South America Andean Explorer

The Ned opens in Lutyens's Midland Bank building, a Soho House and Sydell partnership The Ned

Sharan Pasricha's Ennismore takes The Hoxton and Gleneagles into one group The Hoxton

Heckfield Place opens in a Georgian house in Hampshire after a decade of restoration

Sketch's Lecture Room takes three stars — Mazouz the first African restaurateur to hold three Sketch

Aethos opens its first house in Italy Aethos

Kin House opens in Wiltshire, let whole

LVMH completes the acquisition of Belmond on 17 April Belmond

The Newt opens in Somerset, built around a working cider farm and garden

The Connaught Bar named World's Best Bar; again in 2021 Connaught Bar

The Ritz London closes for the first time since 1906, then sells to Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri in March The Ritz London

Tao Group acquires Hakkasan Hakkasan

IHG launches Vignette Collection for independent hotels Vignette Collection

The Set Hotels rebrands as The Set Collection — a representation company that owns none of its members, supplying them the GDS chain code TS The Set Collection

Lanserhof at The Arts Club opens in Mayfair Lanserhof at The Arts Club

Artfarm buys the Groucho Club for £40m in August The Groucho Club

Battersea Power Station opens to the public in October, its chimneys rebuilt to look the same Battersea Power Station, London

Estelle Manor opens at Eynsham Hall in Oxfordshire

Raffles London opens in the Old War Office on Whitehall

The Wolseley Hospitality Group announces its move into hotels The Wolseley Hotels

Hakkasan's original Hanway Place closes permanently in February Hakkasan

Mohari separates Hakkasan Group out again in September Hakkasan

DIAFA takes a strategic stake in Azumi in October Zuma

Mandarin Oriental takes the Lutetia and the Conservatorium from early in the year; the house the collection began with is rebranded under another name in January 2026 The Set Collection

DIAFA acquires the Caring group for £1.4bn in April — Ivy, Caprice, Birley The Ivy

Maybourne splits on 9 July: Regis Maybourne keeps Claridge’s, the Riviera and Beverly Hills; Constellation keeps the buildings of The Connaught, The Berkeley and The Emory Maybourne

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal closes at the end of January, at sixteen years Dinner by Heston Blumenthal