Sleep
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
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.
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.
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 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.
HILTON BANKSIDE
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.
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.
The Connaught is part of the same hotel group as Mayfair neighbour Claridge’s so it’s no surprise that this 5-star hotel is also dripping in elegance – their art collection alone includes pieces by Barbara Hepworth, Damien Hirst and Louise Bourgeois. The 121 rooms go from superior queens right up to an apartment suite and all have 24-hour butler service – this is Mayfair after all. As well as The Connaught Bar, a regular on the World’s 50 Best Bars list, the hotel is also home to Jean-Georges at The Connaught, the two-star Helene Darroze at The Connaguht and the legendary Connaught Grill, which was revived by Jean-Georges Vongerichten in 2020.
The Dorchester is one of the most famous hotels in London and since it opened in 1931, it’s been a popular haunt of royals, celebs and even presidents. As well as having a host of opulent rooms and suites, the five-star hotel is also known for its collection of restaurants, which include The Grill by Tom Booton (creator of that lobster thermidor tart); China Tang, which serves traditional Cantonese food; the 3-star Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester; and The Promenade, where the hotel’s afternoon tea is served.
Claridge’s is quite simply a London icon. The 5-star hotel is synonymous with glamour and elegance – it’s popular with the royals as well as whole host of other famous faces, so that should give you some idea of the standards they run this place to. The rooms range from superior kings to royal suites, and they’re all decked out in grand art deco style. If you can’t afford to sleep over, you can still get a little taste of luxury with the hotel’s famous afternoon tea – served in that signature green and white china – or at Claridge’s Restaurant.
GRAN HOTEL CALDERON
Hotel Gran Calderon is part of the NH Collection group, which is very present in Barcelona with eight properties in total. The five star hotel has a prime location – situated in Eixample it’s surrounded by bars and restaurants and only a 10 minute walk to Las Ramblas and Gracias. The rooms are spacious and have all the amenities you could possibly need. The suites are huge and come with two 50 inch TVs and two bathrooms – you never know when you might be caught short. Following the theme the breakfast buffet is also quite the spread; anything you might want, it’s here. But the real highlight is the rooftop. 11 floors up you can find a cocktail bar and rooftop pool with 360 views of the city, making it the ideal spot for soaking up the Spanish sun and the selfies.
THE BARCELONA EDITION
The Barcelona EDITION hotel combines luxury and sustainability throughout all its 100 rooms. The hotel is located in the city centre in the lively El Born neighbourhood, just a short walk from Las Ramblas. The hotel is home to two bars and three restaurants – Cabaret, located in the basement, does what it says on the tin as dinner (we can recommend the red prawns rice made with locally sourced Costa Brava seafood) comes with a cabaret-style show featuring a live singer. Our favourite part of the hotel though is definitely The Roof. Located 10 floors high it has 360 views of the city, sunbeds and a plunge pool. Head up there for golden hour and enjoy one of the cocktails made using seasonal ingredients. Perfect to sip on whilst watching the sunset..
CASA BONAY
Casa Bonay is one of Barcelona’s best boutique design hotels, and is excellent value too. Once a private home, the building has been converted into a very cool hotel with a bar in the former garage and a hipster coffee shop at the front called Satan’s Coffee. The rooms are cosy size-wise but well designed with mosaic-tiled floors, high ceilings, and modern furniture. We love the little roof top too which as a little bar and restaurant, plus a small garden area reserved just for hotel guests. It’s got a great location too and you can walk most places, perhaps with the odd cab home at the end of the night.
THE HOXTON PARIS
Set in an 18th Century Hotel Particular, with many of the original features still intact, this glamorous addition to The Hoxton family has 172 bedrooms, two courtyards, a modern French brasserie, Jacques Bar, an atmospheric lobby, and vaulted meeting and event space. But the best thing about this place is the design – every nook and cranny has been perfectly curated. There’s a 300 year old spiral staircase, original iron columns, tiles from the 18th Century and exposed timber beams in some of the 4th-floor bedrooms. Our fave spot right now? That’ll be Jacques bar with floral wallpaper, tasselled lamps, fluted sofas and palms…
The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel is one mighty impressive building. Even those who haven’t been inside will have probably seen various parts of the hotel on TV – yes it was the staircase in the Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’ video. It’s grand and decadent with high ceilings and huge corridors, made so for ladies in the olden days who wore massive skirts so that they could walk along them without getting stuck, and the rooms come with plenty of five-star touches. The hotel is also home to the Booking Office restaurant with a 29-metre-long bar and classic English grub.
