Admiralty Arch to become London's next landmark hotel after sale to Spanish investor

With Buckingham Palace and the Mall stretching out below its westerly windows and Trafalgar Square doing the same to the east, London's Admiralty Arch has an unrivalled view into the heart of the nation.

But it is a view soon to be opened up to everyone – if they can afford it. The grand entrance to The Mall in Trafalgar Square's south-west corner, next to the grace and favour apartment where John Prescott once broached matters of a decidedly delicate nature between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, and more famously between himself and his diary secretary Tracy Temple, is to become London's next landmark hotel.

The 100-year-old building has been sold to a Spanish investor, Rafael Serrano, for £60m, and with a little fanfare its future plans have been unveiled, with help from the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude.

Mr Serrano would not say when the hotel might open – planning permission still needs to be given by Westminster Council – or how much it might cost to stay at the hotel.

Mr Maude was adamant that it would not mean that a huge corner of Trafalgar Square, by far the country's most significant public meeting place, would now be yet another of London's preserves for the super rich.