Boundary hotel to get 'new lease of life' after sale to Harcourt Inns founder

The Conran estate has sold the Boundary hotel in London's Shoreditch to James McCulloch, founder of the Harcourt Inns pub group, for an undisclosed sum.

The boutique hotel launched in a converted Victorian warehouse in 2008 and was the first site for Sir Terence Conran's Prescott & Conran hospitality group. It survived the collapse of its former parent company in 2018.

Under its new owner, the hotel's 17 bedrooms, basement restaurant, street-facing Albion Cafe and rooftop bar will all undergo a "light touch" upgrade to give it a "new lease of life" in 2022.

McCulloch told The Caterer: "If you look at Redchurch Street there are restaurants like Brat, Smoking Goat, Dishoom, and Shoreditch House nearby. The game has been raised all along the road but the Boundary hasn't [been at that level]. So, we're hoping to bring it in to 2022."

The hotel's basement space, formerly home to French restaurant Tratra and later Wilder - which did not reopen after lockdown - will be reinvented as a speakeasy-style bar that will host food pop-ups. "It's previous styles were more fine dining with white tablecloths, we want to give it a bit more character to suit Shoreditch," said McCulloch.

The Albion Cafe on the ground floor will close, with the entire space set to be redeveloped into an all-day bar and brasserie.

Fixtures and fittings will be overhauled in the rooftop bar and grill, and McCulloch is in talks with chefs to oversee the wider food and beverage across the whole building.

McCulloch founded London gastropub group Harcourt Inns in 2014 and the business grew to six sites including the Coach in Clerkenwell and Hero of Maida in Maida Vale.

However, the Harcourt Inns brand did not survive the pandemic and McCulloch is no longer involved with any of the pubs. He is entirely focused on the Boundary as his next project.

McCulloch said: "We are working with a leading design team to transform the various spaces and are putting together an impressive line-up of chefs, artists, musicians and mixologists to help put the Boundary back on the London map."

Work on refurbishment is expected to begin in Q1 next year.