[2] The building has a turbulent history from its time as the Marlborough Street Magistrates Court, which set the scene for many famous cases over the years, involving figures such as John Lennon, Oscar Wilde, Johnny Rotten, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

[2] In 1835 Charles Dickens worked as a reporter in the building for the Morning Chronicle, and Louis Napoleon appeared in court as witness in a fraud case between attempts to establish a second empire in France in 1847.

[3] In 1973 fellow Rolling Stones member Keith Richards was fined £205 for possession of marijuana, heroin, mandrax, a revolver and an antique shotgun.

[3] In 1970 John Lennon was taken to court for exhibiting pictures deemed too sexually explicit in the London Art Gallery at 22 New Bond Street, and artist Francis Bacon was accused of possessing cannabis.

[3] The last notable case before it became a hotel was in 1981 when John Miller, who masterminded the kidnapping of Ronnie Biggs, appeared in court after being arrested on arrival back from Barbados.