Malmaison Birmingham (Venues)
Birmingham’s Mailbox has a welcome mixed use synergy with brands like Harvey Nichols, Emporio Armani and Bang & Olufsen co-existing with the venue’s bars and restaurants.
The anchor to this stylish set-up is the Malmaison hotel, used by leisure guests and corporates, such as MTV, when they’re in town.
Abigail Parkin checked into Malmaison's new Spaghetti Junction suite.
The quirky appeal of the Mal outfit is no surprise. After all, this is the company that remodelled a former church (Glasgow) and a prison (Oxford) and the Birmingham Mal began life as a Royal Mail sorting office. Flourishes such as the red carpeted stairway that spirals up to the elegant bar hint at its postal history. More obvious are the names of the lavish new suites, the flagship Penny Black and the Sorting Office. Behind these names lie spaces which offer every indulgence ranging from a private cinema screen to free wireless internet and a location near New Street station and the Selfridges shopping complex.
The Birmingham hotel’s civic pride extends to our Spaghetti Junction suite, named after the (in)famous spiralling motorway mass a few miles away. Indeed, stylish pictures of the dreaded Junction adorn the walls and one hopes the photographer earned industry plaudits for the artistic portrayal of the vast structure.
Malmaison has high hopes for its new suites which it dubs “the chicest individually designed rooms and suites Birmingham has ever seen.” Certainly the interior of the Spaghetti Junction suite is imposing and reeks of texture. It also reeks of dark, sexy, indulgence. The rich, retro velvet-skinned walls and the ecru and chocolate colour scheme give it a refined fetish playroom touch - and that’s before you get to the vast, black lacquered four-poster bed which is delineated from the lounge by a demi-wall with flat screen TV embedded.
As twilight Birmingham twinkles through the floor-to-ceiling front facing windows, the open plan lounge of the Spaghetti Junction suite is an elegant place in which to contemplate the night’s schedule. The iPod dock with speakers is useful and saves lugging your own station around and the Bose CD and DVD systems are simple to use. Add to this an interesting wine stock and comfortable chaise longues and staying in could easily be the new going out.
The bathroom is designed for indulgence featuring a black claw-foot bath with yet another flat screen TV on hand with the speaker niftily installed above head height and the shower is of the power rainfall variety. Same-day laundry and generously proportioned Malmaison toiletries enhance the hygiene routine. For facials and massages the Le Petit Spa offers treatments using Elemis products for facials, massages and body treatments and Jessana products for manicures and pedicures.
Dining means the brasserie which offers everything from sirloin steak to a a number of vegetarian dishes. The bar adjacent to the brasserie also provides food and is worth visiting to sample the Mohito and take in the chic and well-heeled ambience in the familiar Russian Constructivist black and red theme of the hotel.
All in all, the new suites are additions which revitalise not only the Malmaison, but also the visitor experience to Birmingham.
RK _________________________________________