by Last summer, I visited Birch Selsdon, a newly opened hotel and members’ club in a renovated De Vere property on the outskirts of London, where Croydon ends in Surrey. In its restaurant, large families had breakfast bathed in the sunlight that streamed in through its large windows.
Outside, a handful of meadow flowers bloomed over the remains of their old golf course, which was being rebuilt as a home for cows and sheep. We walked through the hotel woods until the rain came, then my kids found a room where they could play electronic games and darts. We all agreed it was pretty special.
It was this day, along with a shared workspace and gym (and, lately, a pool and the excellent chef Lee Westcott in the kitchens), that convinced my husband to become a member. He loved working from the hotel, taking breaks to walk the gardens and have coffee in the plant-filled greenhouse. There were definitely teething problems (erratic service and still-shabby corners of the vast castle-like building), but we were eager to stay the night and maybe try one of Birch’s classes, like pottery or forest bathing.
We never had the chance. A couple of months after that first visit, the hotel unexpectedly closed along with its sister property, Birch Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. Administrators took over both hotels, with Selsdon citing “cash flow pressures” as the reason behind the operator’s decision. Staff were fired and even the sheep were reportedly returned. A post by Westcott on Instagram showed a space that wasn’t even finished, paintings leaning against the building’s old wood paneling.
Birch Selsdon had only been open for seven months, after two years of multi-million-dollar renovations. Birch Cheshunt, which welcomed guests for the first time in 2020, lasted three years. It was a spectacular fall from grace for Birch, originally launched with much enthusiasm by former Ace Hotel London general manager Chris Penn and businessman Chris King. Although they left the mark long before the Selsdon hotels opened (in 2022 and 2023 respectively), Penn’s original vision still resonated.
“We felt there was an opportunity to acquire assets that were on the outskirts of cities and had not been appreciated as conference centers and wedding venues, but had inherent beauty. They seemed to be very disconnected from the needs of the modern consumer. They were in such wonderful places for people in cities to escape, but the proposition inside those buildings didn’t reflect what these consumers could get on their doorstep,” Penn told me, speaking by phone just days after the shocking announcement.
Hotels close, but are often quickly reborn in new incarnations. When Ace Hotel London closed in 2020, its operators renovated it and reopened it as One Hundred Shoreditch in March 2022. However, the huge suburban spaces could be a harder sell and parent company Aprirose removed all traces of Birch from its website , leaving the Travelodge hotels. , Premier Inn and Hilton who feel very at odds with the brand’s original philosophy.
Birch presented itself as a hippie, creative version of Soho House, intending to “look like a hotel but feel like a festival.” The idea appealed to many, but the Selsdon Hotel may have been too “hipster” for some locals (as a comment on the Inside Croydon website suggested). It also wasn’t polished enough for hipsters, and with both hotels home to more than 140 rooms and cavernous public areas, adding the necessary polish would require dedication and a lot of cash.
Rooms started at around £140 per night and reflected the price – more student accommodation than Soho Home. The official line on Birch’s lack of TVs and other amenities was that guests were encouraged to explore the grounds and park at on-site activities rather than lounge around in their pajamas, but for some that seemed to take shortcuts. Others were not impressed by the service and surroundings.
Originally, Birch’s reuse and recycling approach was born from a strong desire for sustainability. “Every decision…was made with integrity around this idea of truly caring about its impact on the consumer, the building, the natural environment and the world. That meant that sometimes we felt it was better to reuse something than buy something new. And I think in the beginning consumers really understood it because we were talking directly to them,” Penn said.
Birch Cheshunt, meanwhile, appeared to be on a downward trajectory. Previous guests I spoke to had vowed never to return. A friend’s disastrous stay a few months before the closure included black stains on the carpets, strange paper signs telling everyone to be quiet, reception staff refusing to book her a table at the restaurant and telling her they had organized a taxi when they hadn’t. t, and a half-eaten sandwich left lying by the pool all weekend.
A Google review of the Selsdon property from two months ago said: “At one point I left the pool area to get something out of my car, when I returned there was a queue to get back in and I was told the area was full and They wouldn’t let me back in even though all my things and my partner were still there along with my empty sunbed. “They finally let me return after a few minutes of discussion, but the staff are clearly out of their depth and have not been properly trained.”
Insiders murmured that an indefinite pause in plans to build a UK base for Hollywood’s nearby Sunset Studios was the final nail in the coffin of the troubled Hertfordshire hotel.
Despite all this, Birch did many things right. Landing Westcott, who had previously worked with Jason Atherton and Tom Aikens, was a coup and his restaurant Elodie became the only one in Croydon to feature in the Michelin Guide. Meanwhile, the list of activities attracted experience-seeking millennials and Generation Z.
On Birch Selsdon’s last day, staff and members mourned a unique building where there was a genuine sense of camaraderie, a fantastic restaurant and some of the best grounds in Greater London. “This was a transformative space for me and my family and we have felt very real pain from the closure. Devastated by all the kind and dedicated staff we have met since May,” read one comment on LinkedIn.
It remains to be seen what these transformative spaces will transform into next. Milan Vuceljic of Moorfields Advisory, joint administrator of Birch Selsdon, told The Telegraph: “The assets will be marketed in due course as we continue to manage the closure of the hotel. “We believe the Selsdon Hotel offers a good opportunity to potential buyers.”
Penn hopes the land is not converted into luxury apartments. “I think the saddest thing would be if there was a big residential development because I think these old properties should be loved and enjoyed by a lot of people,” Penn said.
Whatever happens, there probably won’t be any place like Birch again. And love them or hate them, the London suburbs won’t be the same without them.
