Sleep
SOUTH PLACE HOTEL
- Monday: Open 24 hours
- Tuesday: Open 24 hours
- Wednesday: Open 24 hours
- Thursday: Open 24 hours
- Friday: Open 24 hours
- Saturday: Open 24 hours
- Sunday: Open 24 hours
Being within a short walking distance of Barbican, Old Street and Liverpool Street stations, the South Place Hotel is a pretty convenient spot to be based from in the City. The 80 rooms come with all the mod cons like Bang & Olufsen TVs, free films on demand, free WiFi, Nespresso machines and so on. There’s a lot to get stuck into outside the rooms too, with the South Place Chop House serving up classic British grub, fancy seafood (and a fancy terrace) up at Angler, speakeasy cocktail bar Le Chiffre, and even a hidden secret garden. For a slick stay in a convenient location with all your drinking and eating needs taken care of inside the hotel, South Place ticks all the boxes.
CHILTERN FIREHOUSE
- Monday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Tuesday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Wednesday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Thursday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Friday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Saturday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Sunday: 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Chiltern Firehouse, the hotel and restaurant owned by Andre Balazs (the man behind Chateau Marmont and New York’s Mercer), is a popular celeb haunt – remember when every man and his dog was papped falling out of the restaurant circa 2014? It does however live up to the hype. The 5-star hotel, housed in a Grade II-listed former fire station, features 26 luxury suites, a secret smoking lounge and a restaurant overseen by Portuguese chef Nuno Mendes. The food (dishes include crab doughnuts, fried chicken with ranch, and chargrilled Iberico pork with poblano chilli) is great, the cocktail menu is bang on trend and the place looks amazing too.
GUNMAKERS
- Monday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
Chef Mark Jarvis, who runs Anglo in Farringdon teamed up with sommelier Xavier Rousset (the pair worked together at Texture) to re-open the Gunmakers in Marylebone 2019. The pub, which had been closed for over a year, was a bit of a hidden gem and used to be frequented by Winston Churchill back in the day. Now it’s home to a bar stocked with classic beer, ale, wine and spirits; a dining room that serves a British-inspired menu (including one of the best Sunday roasts in London); and six-boutique bedrooms upstairs, perfect if you’ve overindulged in the pub and can’t face the journey home.
Jane Austen’s brother Henry used to own a townhouse on Upper Berkeley Street and now the Grade II listed building has been turned into a boutique hotel named after him. Henry’s Townhouse has seven bedrooms, all with Georgian-inspired interiors courtesy of Russell Sage Studio and modern amenities like Nespresso coffee machines, flat-screen TVs, Dyson hairdryers and LA Bruket toiletries. Plus there’s a sharing table in the pantry kitchen where breakfast and private dinners are served as well as a cocktail snug, an outdoor terrace and a sitting room that pays homage to Jane Austen. The rooms are available to book individually or if you’re having a very fancy party (and you’ve got the dollar) you can hire the whole place for 14 people.
THE ZETTER TOWNHOUSE
- Monday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
When a 13-bedroom Georgian townhouse hotel meets an award-winning cocktail lounge, magic happens. And that magic is known as The Zetter Townhouse. It’s luxurious, quirky and very, very British (think red, white and blue everything) with big comfy beds, Egyptian cotton linen and REN products in each room. Their cocktail lounge is pretty spesh too, paying homage to the neighbourhood’s distilling heritage with old cocktail classics as well as homemade cordials and infusions.
On the cusp of south London, just over from Blackfriars Bridge, is the Bankside Hotel which opened up in 2019. Art and design is a huge focus at Bankside; the industrial-chic interiors pay homage to the history of the area whilst still remaining inviting, and the lobby is home to a curated collection of multi-disciplinary art put together by designer Dayna Lee. The hotel has 161 rooms ranging from a modest double to their biggest suite, and they come with Grown Alchemist bathroom products, remote-controlled blackout blinds, Chromecast, and a Nespresso coffee machine. Sadly there isn’t a spa to relax and unwind in, but you can enjoy a 24 hour gym in case you get the urge to throw kettlebells around in the middle of the night.
If you were spending a couple of nights on this part of Tooley Street back in the day, you’d probably be in quite a bit of trouble as it used to be home to a magistrates’ court. Now you won’t find yourself in the dock (unless you’re drinking in the Courtroom Bar) as the space has been transformed into The Dixon hotel. As well as the aforementioned bar, the hotel is home to the very Insta friendly Provisioners restaurant and 193 swish bedrooms with original Edwardian features, grey timber furniture, king size beds and Murdock London toiletries. And once you step outside, you’ve got the best of SE1 right on your doorstep.
The London outpost of the US hotel group is housed in the former Camden Town Hall Annex in King’s Cross. The Standard features 266 rooms from snug hideaways to terraced suites with outdoor tubs – imagine the views from there. They’ve also added three storeys to the top of the building, only accessible by their iconic exterior red pill lift, where you’ll find Decimo, a Spanish-inspired restaurant headed by Michelin-starred chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias. There are more eating and drinking options on the ground floor with restaurant Isla and bar Double Standard. There’s a real 70’s California vibe going on inside, with lots of mahogany, plush leather and pops of colour. This place is highly Instagrammable and a hot new addition to London.
THE NED
- Monday: Open 24 hours
- Tuesday: Open 24 hours
- Wednesday: Open 24 hours
- Thursday: Open 24 hours
- Friday: Open 24 hours
- Saturday: Open 24 hours
- Sunday: Open 24 hours
The Soho House group transformed the old Midland Bank in the City, designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, into The Ned, a mighty luxury hotel. It’s a nod to 1920s glamour – think crystal chandeliers, marble columns and frilly lampshades, with many of the building’s original features still intact. The 250 bedrooms range from intimate crash pads to large-scale suites and it’s also home to eight restaurants (including Cecconi’s, Malibu Kitchen, and Electric Bar & diner), a rooftop bar, two pools and a spa. It’s as boujee as they come.
KINGSLAND LOCKE
- Monday: Open 24 hours
- Tuesday: Open 24 hours
- Wednesday: Open 24 hours
- Thursday: Open 24 hours
- Friday: Open 24 hours
- Saturday: Open 24 hours
- Sunday: Open 24 hours
If you’re after somewhere that offers more that just a bed, head for one of these 124 apartments in the heart of Dalston with interiors just as vibrant as the neighbourhood itself. Staying at Kingsland Locke also means having run of their social spaces, including a co-working lounge, coffee shop, workout studio and microbrewery. Drinks from German Kraft Brewery and Jim & tonic, and food from Le Bab? Check us in. The whole place is inspired by the local surroundings and we bet you feel like a proper Londoner after settling down here.
The Hilton Bankside is a million miles away from what you’d usually associate with the Hilton hotel chain. Set in what used to be the fragrance factory of Stevenson & Howell’s Standard Works, and with the Tate Modern, Haywood Gallery and hip new restaurants and bars as its neighbours, the hotel really makes a statement with its impressive design. The rooms are plush – the king deluxe suite features a bed you could get lost in and a separate living space with a sofa, arm chair and TV, and a huge walk-in rainforest shower. The Bankside also has a 17-metre heated swimming pool, a gym, and in-house restaurant OXBO Bankside, which serves up modern British grub.
BATTY LANGLEY'S
- Monday: Open 24 hours
- Tuesday: Open 24 hours
- Wednesday: Open 24 hours
- Thursday: Open 24 hours
- Friday: Open 24 hours
- Saturday: Open 24 hours
- Sunday: Open 24 hours
Located in the heart of Spitalfields the Batty Langley’s hotel, by its own admission, has a pretty strange name. The 29 bedroom hotel dates back to 1724 with Georgian interiors as opulent as one might expect from an 18th century architect’s residence. Think thick draped curtains, huge oil paintings with golden frames on every wall, open fireplaces and bookshelves filled with big leather-bound books. The hotel doesn’t have a restaurant but they do serve breakfast in bed and they make a mean bacon butty. There’s also a living room, fully stocked library, honesty bar with complimentary cake and a small outside courtyard for guests to use. With its decadent design, interesting past and charming location Batty’s is ideal for those looking to stay somewhere a little different.