Malmaison (hotel chain)

Opened in 2008, Malmaison Aberdeen was formerly the category C listed Queen’s Hotel which was converted and extended at a cost of £7 million under the direction of London-based Curious Architecture. It is located on Queen’s Road in the west end of the city and features 79 bedrooms and suites, wine tasting cellar and whisky shop. The building is owned by Aberdeen Asset Management and let to Malmaison until 2046.[11][12][13]

Malmaison Belfast

The 8th hotel in the chain to open, the Malmaison Belfast is located within a former seed warehouse dating from 1870 which overlooks Belfast Harbour. The hotel is on the corner of Victoria Street and Marlborough Street and features 62 rooms and suites.[14]

Located within The Mailbox, a shopping and dining centre in Birmingham city centre, the hotel is a converted Royal Mail sorting office. It opened in 2000 and has 192 rooms and suites over seven floors. It received a £500,000 refurbishment in 2015. The hotel has attracted a number of celebrity guests including Beyoncé, Prince and Katy Perry - some of whom have stayed in the "Penny Black" suite which features a home cinema and private spa room.[15]

In May 2014 the hotel was rated by Birmingham City Council environmental health officers as very bad for food hygiene and safety and structural compliance.[16]

Frasers Hospitality Group purchased the 71 room Hotel Seattle in December 2015.[17] In April 2016 it was announced the hotel, which overlooks Brighton Marina, would be re-branded as a Malmaison, becoming the 14th hotel in the chain. In 2017 ROL Group Ireland purchased the hotel for an undisclosed sum.[18]

Cheltenham's Montpellier Chapter Hotel was purchased in December 2015 and it was announced in May 2016 that it would be re-branded as a Malmaison. The hotel is a three-storey former villa dating from 1847, which is grade II listed.[19]

The Dundee Malmaison hotel opened in January 2014 at a cost of £15 million. The opening date was delayed by a week due to flooding within the building, resulting in bookings being cancelled, including a 170-seat dinner celebrating the 120th anniversary of Dundee Football Club. The building was formerly the Mathers Temperance Hotel and Tay Hotel and overlooks the Firth of Tay. It has 91 rooms and suites over four floors, each of which has a picture of cartoon character Dennis the Menace, who was created by Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson.[20][21]

Built in 1883 and a former seaman’s mission and at one point a brothel, the Edinburgh Malmaison in Leith was the first hotel to open when Malmaison was established in 1994. It is a category B listed building overlooking Leith docks and has 100 rooms and suites.[22]

Opened in September 1994, a former Greek orthodox church on West George Street within the city centre, Malmaison Glasgow has 72 bedrooms and suites. 51 of these were part of the original hotel, with the remainder in a new wing created during an expansion of the hotel in 1997. The largest suite is known as "The Big Yin" in honour of Glaswegian comedian Billy Connolly.[23] The hotel features Michelin starred chef Martin Wishart’s The Honours restaurant which can cater for 106 diners.[24][25]

Located within the Victorian era former Leeds City Tramways Office the hotel has 100 rooms and suites. A refurbishment of the hotel was completed in November 2015.[26]

The hotel is frequented by musical performers and has historically been attended by bands such as Sum 41, Red Hot Chili Peppers and others, including those performing at the annual Leeds Festival.[27]

The first and only new-build hotel by Malmaison was designed by Leach Rhodes Walker architects and constructed by Morgan Sindall. The 11 storey building located at Prince's Dock opened in 2006 and has 130 rooms.[28]

Located in Farringdon, central London and previously a nurses home, the hotel has 97 rooms and suites. It opened in 2003 and underwent a refurbishment between March and November 2013.[29]

Malmaison Manchester in 2011.

Situated within the Piccadilly area of Manchester city centre, the hotel was previously a six-storey 19th century warehouse. It has 180 rooms and suites and the restaurant is called the Smoak Bar and Grill. A sixty bedroom extension was opened in 2001 at a cost of £4 million, designed by Leach Rhodes Walker architects and built by BAM Construction.[30]

In November 2014 images of male and female models on construction site hoardings at the hotel were condemned by the Construction Industry Training Board and writer and journalist Jeanette Winterson as being stereotypical and sexist. In response Malmaison insisted that the images were meant to be a bit of fun with both men and women depicted to highlight their construction project.[31]

Malmaison Newcastle

The Newcastle hotel is within the grade II-listed former Co-Operative Society warehouse building dating from 1900. It is located on the Quayside and overlooks the Millennium Bridge between Newcastle and Gateshead. It originally opened in 1997 with 122 rooms and was refurbished in 2015 at a cost of £1.2 million.[32][33]

HM Prison Oxford until 1996, the building was converted by Malmaison between 2003 and December 2005, as part of the wider Oxford Castle regeneration project. The 95 rooms are converted prison cells and the hotel retains several original features such as metal doors and walk-ways.[34]

Dating from 1844 and the oldest surviving railway station hotel in the world, the Reading hotel was bought by Malmaison in 2007. It has 75 rooms.[35]

It was announced in October 2017 that Malmaison would be opening a hotel within a £40 million development at Bath Road, Bournemouth. Construction is expected to take approximately 24 months and begin in early 2018.[36]

In January 2017 planning permission was granted for the conversion of Yorkshire House in York to allow the creation of what will be Malaison's 16th hotel. The building was previously used as offices by insurance firm Aviva. The hotel is expected to have 160 rooms and create 120 jobs.[37]