Our Story

St. David's Hotels Paddington, is a family run hotel situated in the quiet Norfolk Square in the heart of central London. We are ideally placed for London’s vast array of tourist attractions, shopping districts, restaurants, entertainment venues and magnificent parks, many of which within walking distance.  Paddington station which has fast connections to Heathrow Airport and train links to interesting locations around the UK.

History of our buildings

The St. David's Hotel, situated in the unique Norfolk Square, was built in the early 1800's. It was then a private square which housed the nobility of London and their servants, who lived in the lower parts of the buildings. The master's carriage and the horses were kept at the rear of the building in the mews, now known as London Mews. The ladies of the house would take afternoon tea in the gardens, served by their maids in the shade of the trees, which incidentally, are now all preserved by the Forestry Commission.

At the north end of the square once stood the square's own church. This was built around 1740 to accommodate the ever-growing population of Paddington, however was destroyed by a fire in 1845. Norfolk Square was privately owned and maintained by its residents up to the end of World War II, when it was taken over by the local council. The residents had their own constable who patrolled daily as well as acting as their gateman.

The houses in this square still have a lot of their architectural beauty, although a lot of mouldings and perches were destroyed through air raids during the world wars.

History of our Family Business

George arrived in London in the winter of 1962. He was a 14-year-old Greek-Cypriot immigrant, alone with only £6 in his pocket but with a bucketful of ambition and self-belief. He attended school during the day and worked in various restaurants at night and during the weekend. He even did a stint in a seafood beach bar in America before returning to London and to pursue his life as a hotelier in 1972.

In 1980, George was 32 years old, had just had his 3rd child when he took on the lease of 16 Norfolk Square. The building was in a state of disrepair with only one bathroom for 15 rooms. Through sheer hard work, determination, the ability to turn his hand to anything and with his loveable personality geared towards helping and serving people, George took to being a chef in the morning, a cleaner/maintenance man by day, a receptionist by afternoon and a business manager by night, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. He had only three members of staff to support him and in 1986 George took on the lease of Townhouses 18 and 20 Norfolk Square expanding the business. He was joined by his equally hard-working wife Foulla who tested her skills at waitressing, reception duties, bookkeeping, HR and team manager, oh and she would also make some soup for sick guests and be a surrogate mum for newly recruited labourers working on London building projects who would stay at the hotel on weekdays.

In 1993 the lease of Townhouse 14 was added to the St. David's Hotels footprint that we have now. Their children now run the business and are putting their own stamp on the aesthetics, highlighting the heritage features of the Grade 2 listed Victorian building, veering towards technology-based solutions to manage rooms and staff, whilst keeping an eye on sustainability and care for the environment.