Camden News - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS Published: 22 May 2008
The Deli
Exclusive: Inside Gordon Ramsay’s boutique hotel
THESE are the first glimpses of chef Gordon Ramsay’s plans for his hotel in Camden Town. The designs for the York and Albany – Mr Ramsay’s first foray into the hotel world – show plush bedroom suites, a rustic-looking deli and a traditional gentleman’s bar.
All the rooms in the Parkway “boutique” hotel – a former pub – appear to boast a fireplace, according to the pictures obtained exclusively by the New Journal after the hotel was handed a late licence last week.
Angela Hartnett, a protégé of Mr Ramsay and a Michelin-starred chef in her own right, will become head chef in September.
The opening of the hotel has been delayed by work on the building. “There’s a lot of things wrong with the building at the York and Albany that we’ve got to put right first,” Ms Hartnett told industry magazine Caterer and Hotelkeeper. “At the end of the day it’s a pain, but I haven’t lost any members of staff because of the delay, which was my main worry.”
She added: “I don’t want to take the p*ss and make [the deli] too expensive. I want it to be approachable. “So far, I haven’t done loads of trips abroad, because we’re not at the stage yet where we’ll be importing direct – that’ll happen gradually. “And it’s not an Italian deli. I want it to have more of a general store feel and I want to use British produce. Eventually, we’d like to hook up with a farm and raise our own pigs, for example – butcher them, too. That’s the way I want to go.”