Almost 50 years ago, a pair of American businessmen and restaurateurs opened up the Hard Rock Hotel in London.
Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton launched the Hard Rock Café in the city back in 1971. Or as Hard Rock’s corporate website puts it, Tigrett and Morton were “two shaggy-haired Americans who just wanted to find a good burger while living in London.”
The new hotel joins other Hard Rock Hotels in locations like Bali, Cancun, Ibiza and Shenzhen.
The Hard Rock Hotel London is on the corner of Oxford Street at Marble Arch, and brings along with it memorabilia from some of the world’s biggest music legends. The London branch houses the Kirkwood piano used by Queen’s Freddie Mercury as well as a 1958 letter in Buddy Holly’s handwriting.
Keeping with the musical heritage, rooms feature turntables and guests are also able to hire a Fender guitar for their room (albeit, with headphones to avoid noise complaints).
The hotel’s Hard Rock Café will seat 370-diners, and feature daily live music performances from both local and international artists. As per usual, the menu is ‘American inspired’.
This is part of a global expansion of the Hard Rock brand. More hotels and casinos are slated to launch in cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, Madrid, Maldives, New York City, Dalian and Haikou in China.
In August, the Hard Rock Hotel in South Florida is scheduled to open its doors, and will then become the world’s first guitar-shaped hotel.
