The New York Times, September 17, 2006
Check In: London's Courthouse Hotel Kempinski
Back when this historic building served as the Great Marlborough Street Magistrate’s Court, its defendant list read like a “who’s who” of bad-boy rockers: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, John Lennon and Johnny Rotten, all of whom appeared before a judge. Though the scene is a bit tamer these days on the edge of Soho, certain quirky details of the past remain in the hotel, which opened last year. Iron bars separate the swooping lobby lounge from the hotel bar — a sexy, black mica-floored space that also features three prison cells remade as private booths — and nine suites in former judges’ robing rooms. The other 103 rooms are in a new wing built on the site of the old police station. Clad in chic black uniforms, the young international staff is friendly, efficient and well schooled in the unusual history of the establishment.