A new hotel brand named after a lexicographer takes over a building on the square this October, with a literary programme, three Italian rooms and a late-night bar downstairs.
The Webster Covent Garden opens in October 2026 at 62 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the square between Holborn and Covent Garden, and it arrives with a newspaper in the lobby and a letter-writing desk at arrival. The building was Club Quarters Covent Garden, and its conversion gives the new brand 167 bedrooms and its first address.
Noah Webster’s namesake
The Webster takes its name from Noah Webster, the lexicographer, and names Gabriel García Márquez as a second influence. A copy of The Webster Newspaper will wait in the lobby, and the lounge will hold a leather-bound guest book, postcards and a letter-writing station. There will be a bookmark at the bedside and a take-one, leave-one bookshelf on every floor.
The hotel also plans The Daily Edit, a programme it intends to run through the week, bringing artists, musicians, authors and designers in for small gatherings. The Webster also describes book launches, live music and art among the events it intends to host with local tastemakers.
Italian, from espresso to Negroni
The dining is Italian and divided by time of day. Al Banco, the café and aperitivo bar, faces the square from the ground floor and a terrace, and The Webster names the Milanese coffee bar as its model: coffee in the morning giving way to spritzes and light cocktails as the evening approaches.
Carmelina’s is the restaurant, drawing on northern Italian craftsmanship and southern warmth, by the hotel’s own account. Both Al Banco and Carmelina’s are listed as opening in October 2026. Downstairs, Carla’s List takes over after dark, a late room with a disco ball and a Negroni on the menu, and its reservations are still marked as coming soon.
Red Deer’s conversion
The interiors are by Red Deer, a studio in the Tea Building in Shoreditch whose portfolio includes St John at the London Review of Books and Native at Browns. The studio’s scheme for The Webster covers a full redesign of the bedrooms, public rooms and lounge, with a new restaurant and speakeasy in the basement.
Red Deer’s published plans suggest a basement of deep red velvet, subdued lighting and a large hammered-gold bar, with live jazz. Upstairs, the plans show bespoke terrazzo floors and a library corner in the lounge, and the courtyard facing the square becomes the terrace. The hotel is managed by Altus Hospitality, whose pipeline page still gives July 2026 for the opening, the date first announced. The hotel’s own pages now say October, and a second Webster is planned for Times Square in October 2027.
Two rooms off the square
For events, The Webster offers two rooms, both equipped as meeting rooms with a 4K laser projector, a conference camera and programmable lighting. The Open Book is the larger, at 166 square metres, taking 160 for a reception or a theatre-style talk and 50 around a conference table. The Library, at 100 square metres, takes 100 standing and 48 at round tables, the only seated dining figure the hotel publishes.
The hotel sits on the same square as Sir John Soane’s Museum and the Royal College of Surgeons, home to the Hunterian Museum, with Lincoln’s Inn alongside.