Michelin keys UK and Ireland 2026: the full list, and who lost a key

The Michelin Guide added 18 new hotels to their michelin keys list across the UK and Ireland, promoted two Scottish hotels to Two Keys and cut its Three-Key list from 14 hotels to 11.

The Michelin Guide unveiled its 2026 Key selection on Friday, September 18, 2026, adding 18 new 'key' hotels across the UK and Ireland and reshaping the top of the list in the process.

The headline for Britain and Ireland was at the very top. The three-key list, the Guide's highest hotel distinction, fell from 14 hotels to 11. Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane and Bvlgari Hotel London both dropped from three keys to two, while Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Raymond Blanc's Oxfordshire country house, disappeared from the selection altogether after closing for a major refurbishment.

There were however three new additions to the two-key list, in Cromlix, Gleneagles Townhouse and The Chancery Rosewood.

Overall the picture was one of growth. The Michelin Guide Hotel Selection for Great Britain and Ireland now runs to 11 three-key hotels, 47 two-key hotels and 92 one-key hotels, a total of 150. Of the 18 new distinctions, three were at two-key level and 15 at one key.

Four hotels also lost their one key entirely: Foresters Hall in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, following a private sale, Knightsbridge Hotel in London, The Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Berkshire and Estelle Manor in Oxfordshire. Covent Garden Hotel, part of the Firmdale group, slipped from two keys to one.

What is a Michelin Key?

The Michelin Key is the Guide's distinction for hotels, and the hotel equivalent of the Michelin star. Michelin announced it in October 2023 and awarded the first keys in 2024, initially across 15 destinations in North America, Europe and Asia, before taking it global.

Keys are awarded after anonymous stays by the Guide's hotel inspectors, and the selection is reviewed every year. Hotels are judged against five criteria:

• An open door to the destination, meaning what the hotel contributes within its own locality
• Excellence in interior design and architecture
• Individuality, reflecting personality and authenticity
• Quality and consistency in service, comfort and maintenance
• Consistency between the level of the experience and the price paid

There are three levels. The Michelin Guide describes one key as a very special stay, Two keys as an exceptional stay and three keys as an extraordinary stay. A hotel has to be part of the Guide's wider hotel selection, which now runs to more than 9,400 properties worldwide, before it can be considered for a key at all.

The new Two-Key hotels

Three UK hotels were added to the two-key list for 2026, and two of them were Scottish promotions.

Cromlix, Stirlingshire. Owned by Sir Andy Murray, the Victorian country house moved up from one key to two. The Michelin Guide said: "Cromlix is a Victorian-era country house with a surprisingly modern and colourful interior, yet its underlying character still remains intact."

Inspectors pointed to the range of outdoor pursuits, from archery and shooting to a tennis court decked out in Wimbledon colours, and to the intimate seven-seater restaurant Cradle.

Gleneagles Townhouse, Edinburgh. Also promoted from one key to two, the city sibling to the Perthshire estate was praised for a style the Guide called "somehow both ultra-chic and ultra-Victorian at the same time", with a spa set in the building's old bank vault and The Spence as its social heart.

The Chancery Rosewood, Mayfair. The only brand new entry at two-key level, and a nominee for Michelin's Opening of the Year Award 2026. The all-suite London hotel opened in late 2025 in the former US Embassy building on Grosvenor Square, complete with a 35-foot-wide gilded eagle and a collection of more than 700 artworks. Dining is led by Tobi Masa, the restaurant from revered sushi master Masayoshi Takayama.

The new One-Key hotels

Fifteen hotels picked up their first 'key', spread across England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. The Michelin Guide grouped them into waterside stays, sporting properties, country escapes and city hotels with serious kitchens.

Seaham Hall Hotel, Seaham, Durham. A coastal retreat that hosted one of Lord Byron's weddings, now fitted out with bedside-controlled lighting and North Sea views.

The Torridon, Torridon, Highlands. Set in 60 acres of parkland beside Upper Loch Torridon, with rooms also in The Stables and The Boathouse, and the one-Michelin-starred restaurant 1887.

Glenlo Abbey Hotel, Galway. An 18th-century estate on 200 acres beside Lough Corrib, where the one-starred dining room sits inside restored Orient Express carriages.

Marlfield House Hotel, Gorey, Co Wexford. A 19th-century Regency-style country house with five free-standing Pond Suites facing an ornamental lake.

Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa, St Andrews, Fife. So close to the Old Course that the hotel is in play on the 17th hole, with its own Duke's course and a spa complex alongside.

Fowlescombe Farm, Ivybridge, Devon. A restored Victorian farmhouse and barns on a working regenerative farm, with ten suites, 500 acres and an all-inclusive rate. The farm supplies The Refectory restaurant.

Manor House Lindley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. A Georgian house turned semi-urban bolthole by a designer-turned-hotelier, with three bars.

Priory Wareham, Wareham, Dorset. A 16th-century monastery on the banks of the River Frome, family owned, with bedrooms split between the main house and a riverside boathouse.

Tillingham Winery, Tillingham, East Sussex. A biodynamic wine estate on the Sussex Weald with 11 bedrooms in a reclaimed hop barn and a farm-to-table restaurant drawing on the walled garden and Rye Harbour's daily catch.

LYLA Restaurant and Rooms, Edinburgh. The smallest of this year's additions, with just four rooms above the one-Michelin-starred LYLA on Royal Terrace.

The Fitzwilliam Hotel Dublin, Dublin. On the edge of St Stephen's Green, home to the one-starred Glovers Alley on the second floor.

The Leinster, Dublin. Mid-century shapes and work by more than 80 Irish artists, with Jean-Georges