There's never a bad time to visit London, and January is no exception, with Chinese New Year just around the corner, the fabulous (and we mean fab!) Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum and a host of other shows and galleries to visit around town. To tempt you we've come up with half a dozen of our fave boutique hotels; once here, treat yourself and try Blacklane's limousine service as a way of getting around.
Boundary
Super-swish and stylish Conran venue housed in a converted Victorian warehouse that sits on a quiet back street within a stone’s throw of both Shoreditch and Brick Lane. The building encompasses three restaurants and bars, plus a deli/bakery and a café specialising in British food. Just 12 rooms in all, plus five suites, which reflect Conran’s obsession with design. Elegant, quirky style, and undeniably high levels of comfort.
Covent Garden Hotel
Clubby styling and roaring fires at this boutiquey Covent Garden option, where you can make believe you live in London for a night – plus you're just a ten-minute walk from the British Museum. A rather irresistible downstairs cafe and brasserie, too, which does a good line in afternoon tea.
Soho Hotel
Not the cheap option by any means but if you want to be in the heart of Soho at a full-service hotel, this is the place. Lovely bright rooms with Wifi and Ipod docks and huge floor-to-ceiling windows, an on-site cinema, and one of the nicest hotel bars in the capital.
One Leicester St
Right on Leicester Square, yet this is still a very cool place to stay,. The cheapest rooms are, well, pretty cheap, for the location, and for this level of comfort. Plus the Michelin-starred restaurant downstairs is superb, the perfect place for a spot of Modern British food after a hard day's sightseeing.
Threadneedles
Housed in a grand converted bank in the heart of the City, this luxury boutique hotel is worth peeking into whether you’re staying here or not, with a lobby, fashioned out of the original banking hall, that has a stunning stained-glass domed ceiling along with all sorts of other original features. It’s even better if you’re lucky enough to be sleeping here, with beautifully furnished rooms that come with limestone baths, iPod docking stations and access to the hotel’s own music library.
The Zetter Townhouse
This 13-bedroom Georgian townhouse and cocktail lounge has an eccentrically decorated bar and lounge, full of clutter, taxidermy and vintage finds. Staff are clothed in workwear cotton jackets and neckerchiefs and the very English cocktail and nibbles menu gives more than a nod to the Dickensian location. As for the guest rooms, each has antique furniture and beautiful bathrooms of the sort that you may well crave at home.
