During the early to mid-1900s, Notting Hill local Rhaune Laslett grew up witnessing cultural marginalisation, racial tensions, and a lack of community cohesion; these experiences catalysed her lifelong legacy of change. Her mission was to unite Notting Hill’s communities, particularly the Caribbean and white working-class populations. 

In 1966, Laslett organised Notting Hill’s first neighbourhood street festival, blending Caribbean music and steel bands with Irish folk music and children’s activities. This pioneering event is widely recognised as the beginning of the Notting Hill Carnival that we know today.  

Central to the festival’s music was Russ Henderson, a Trinidadian steelpan musician and band leader who led the steelpan band through the streets of Laslett’s event. Henderson is widely considered a founding father of the carnival, shaping its musical identity and cementing its Caribbean character. 

The hotel’s Henderson Bar & Kitchen is named in his honour, curated as a refined neighbourhood bar with a focus on high-quality British suppliers. Our signature Rum Punch cocktail - a recipe created by Henderson himself - remains a classic offering to this day.  

During the early renovations of The Laslett, Henderson played steelpan at the hotel; a tradition that continues through his longtime bandmate’s nephew, Mark Cherrie, who performs annually at The Laslett’s Christmas Carnival events. 

The hotel’s design showcases the talent of locally led designers, aiming to blend classic heritage elements with distinctive, playful details. This vision was executed in collaboration with Tom Bartlett’s British architectural studio, Waldo Works, alongside a wider team of British creators.  

London-based designers Pinch helped define a unique identity and brand through bespoke furnishings, each reflecting their celebrated philosophy of simple form and proportion. The hotel also features works from Race Furniture, an iconic British heritage brand founded shortly after the Second World War. 

Simon Day of Nocturne Workshop curated the hotel’s bespoke lighting collection, uniquely known for naming each series after musical artists. The Laslett collection was titled Gil, a tribute to soul singer Gil Scott-Heron. Completing the creative vision was Ben Kelway of Atlas Studio, who helped shape the hotel’s brand identity into a distinctive, cohesive character.  

The hotel features a curated art collection that tells a story of local history, originality, and creative freedom. All rooms feature artwork produced by local creatives, either from West London or with strong ties to Notting Hill.  

Prints include those of the late Barry Kamen, a British artist, stylist, model, and member of the Buffalo collective, a close-knit and influential creative group led by Ray Petri in West London. Buffalo had a major influence on style magazines such as The Face, i-D, and Arena, and their work helped shape 80’s fashion and culture.  

You’ll also find prints by Barbara Hulanicki, fashion designer and founder of West London’s iconic clothing store Biba, a brand that stood at the forefront of the capital’s Swinging Sixties fashion scene and continued to shape style all throughout the 1970s. 

Many of our Master and Spare bedrooms feature prints by London-based artist Brian David Stevens, specifically from his Notting Hill Sound Systems series, which was captured ahead of the 2004 Notting Hill Carnival.  

Our ever-changing art collection also includes notable works by celebrated British artists such as Toby Mott, Caroline Walker, and Harland Miller.  

To integrate the creative spirit of Notting Hill, unique antiques, or ‘curios,’ sourced from Jerome Dodd’s eccentric Portobello store, Les Couilles Du Chien, were selected for display throughout the hotel. 

These are found in the bedrooms and the lobby cabinets, with many available for purchase. The idea was to bring the character and charm of Portobello Market directly into the hotel. 

As you walk into our hotel lobby, you’ll find a built-in display of old heeled shoes. These shoes are a symbolic piece of our history, discovered beneath the floorboards during our initial renovation. 

From the 14th to the 19th century, worn shoes were hidden in floorboards, chimneys, or walls as talismans to protect the home. Today, we believe that these hidden treasures still bring good fortune, protection, and a little bit of magic to all guests who stay here. 

As the first standalone boutique hotel in the Living Rooms collection, The Laslett embodies the brand’s non-commercial ethos, while reflecting the creative spirit of its neighbourhood, Notting Hill. 

The goal was to create the feeling of visiting a friend’s effortlessly stylish townhouse, rather than staying in a conventional London hotel. This echoes our London long-stay apartment portfolio, which blends refined living with the comfort of a home-away-from-home. This sense of home extends to the hotel’s room types, which are named as they would be in a private residence: Master Bedrooms and Spare Bedrooms.  

Now standing for over a decade, our story is far from complete. We continue to welcome new collaborations, embrace local culture and community, and reimagine possibilities for modern hospitality, which shapes our story as we move forward.