Delux Britain – September’s Travel Article
Deluxe Britain
by Sarah Ferrier
Britain has always excelled at luxury – Rolls Royce cars, Connolly leather, Harris tweed, Wilton carpets, Paisley shawls – most of it aimed at a small elite of aristocracy and arrivistes, it must be said. These days, though, the whole world wants luxury, so Britannia has shaken her skirts, booked in for a facelift and upped her game. There has been an unprecedented rise in luxury hotels, bars, shops and spas, many of them in gorgeous historic buildings, others in exciting new builds. Plans are afoot to bring luxury shopping to the heart of the City (London’s financial centre), companies such as Dhillon Hotels and Crazy Bear are renovating historic coaching inns, and the Italian designers Missoni will open their first UK hotel in Edinburgh later in 2008. But that’s all to come. Here’s a thumbnail guide, for the man – or woman – on a mission to luxuriate now: