Our journey from A to Bee takes us back to 2009, when we became the first central London hotel to install beehives on our rooftop.
Led by our Queen Bee Jo Hemesley for over 14 years, our team of beekeepers look after the 10 hives in our Honey Farm, with approximately 60,000 to 80,000 hardworking bees in each colony. A bee can fly up to 3 miles from the hive to forage for nectar, however, our bees will collect most of their forage from Hyde Park on our door step, which gives it a lovely floral taste. Each summer, we harvest our delicious honey and gift to our team to drizzle over desserts and stir into cocktails for our guests to enjoy.
In 2023, we partnered with Bees Abroad by twinning our rooftop hives with a beehive on Kome Island in Tanzania; a project focussed on empowering rural women in Tanzania through beekeeping. Bees Abroad are an incredible grassroots organisation with global ambition to create beekeepers for life. Together with local beekeeper trainers and organisations, they educate, guide, and mentor communities in local best practices in beekeeping, business creation, and protecting the environment To support the work that they do, we’ve launched our ‘Bee Our Guest’package which includes a £10 donation to support this wonderful charity.
Click below to find out more about Bees Abroad and their incredible beekeeping projects across the world.