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Looking for an aesthetically pleasing place to stay in London? Check into this stylish boutique hotels
- 1/11
Looking for an aesthetically pleasing place to stay in London? Check into this stylish boutique hotels
The capital has hundreds of hotels, from fabled favourites such as Claridge’s to the luxury editions of international brands such as Mandarin Oriental and Shangri-La – but for something a little more intimate, you’ll be in search of the best boutique hotels in London.
Whether you’re coming to London to see its famous postcard-gracing sights or want to explore some of its most creative corners and hipster hangouts, our edit covers all of the capital’s coolest neighbourhoods, including Shoreditch, Notting Hill and Marylebone.
BEST BOUTIQUE HOTELS IN LONDON
The Londoner has given tourists somewhere stylish to go on Leicester Square at last – this 350-room behemoth may be grand in stature, but inside it’s a boutique hotel at heart, with intimate guest-only spaces, a vast spa and a courtyard for yoga in the middle of central London.
Or feel good in Fitzrovia at The Mandrake, which is so dedicated to its guests’ moods that it has a spiritual wellbeing concierge on hand to organise everything from sound baths to shamanic rituals.
Here’s our edit of the boutique hotels in London with the most stylish interiors…
The Pilgrm / Courtesy of the hotel - 2/11
1) The Londoner
One of the buzziest hotels to debut in the capital recently, the Londoner may be a little on the large side to strictly count as a boutique hotel, but it makes up for what it lacks in petiteness with intimate spaces for guests to enjoy in the middle of the madness of Leicester Square.
The Residence is a trio of such guest-only spaces, where you’ll be able to enjoy some complimentary antipasti as you admire the collection of Assouline books. In the Drawing Room, designed to look like a classic British living room, there’s a hand-painted mural; or head to the Y Bar for cocktails and comical illustrations.
© Andrew Beasley - 3/11
2) The Henrietta Hotel
A discreet townhouse on a street just off Covent Garden, the Henrietta Hotel has lashings of millennial pink in the bathrooms, velvet sofas, rose gold lamps and patterned headboards. There are just 18 bedrooms, overlooking the surrounding rooftops.
Downstairs, you’ll find the perfect antidote to the touristy restaurants outside – Da Henrietta by Italian Supper Club imports dishes from Italy’s west coast to its cosy tiled space. The hotel is part of fashionable French brand Experimental, which also runs one of London’s original speakeasies, Experimental Cocktail Club, nearby.
The Henrietta/Courtesy of the hotel - 4/11
3) Sea Containers
With possibly the best view of St Paul’s in London (courtesy of its South Bank setting), Sea Containers is also home to one of the capital’s coolest cocktail bars, a romantic riverside terrace and its own Curzon Cinema. Organic products are blended on-site at the spa.
The decor took a transatlantic Twenties cruise liner as its muse, most visible at the aforementioned cocktail hotspot Lyaness and up at 12th Knot, the hotel’s Thames-facing rooftop bar.
Courtesy of the hotel - 5/11
4) Batty Langley’s
Part of a trio of characterful boutique hotels in London – its sister properties are Hazlitt’s and the Rookery – Batty Langley's is for the maximalists among us. There’s nothing modern about this atmospheric Spitalfields stay; rather, heavy drapery, four-poster beds and elaborate antiques.
In case you’re wondering who Batty is, the hotel is named after the publisher of 18th-century handbooks on creating tasteful gardens and interiors. And if you want to stay firmly in the past for the duration of your visit, don’t miss Dennis Severs House next-door, a museum preserved precisely as it was for a family of Spitalfields’ Huguenot silk weavers.
Courtesy of the hotel - 6/11
5) The Mandrake
Check in to the Mandrake in Fitzrovia if you want to be in prime position for Soho and the West End. Design details include three-storey flower walls, a cabana in the garden for cocktails and private dining, a rotating artist in residence and a South American restaurant with a terrace and regular live music.
If you’re worried about the feng shui, the spiritual wellbeing concierge will ensure balance is restored – they’ll be able to arrange gong baths, crystal singing bowl meditations, sound-healing and energy cleansing. Shamanic rituals are possible too, if you’re really getting into the spirit.
The Mandrake/Courtesy of the hotel - 7/11
6) The Franklin
The follow up from design queen Anouska Hempel to Blakes, the Franklin is a red-brick residence in Kensington’s Egerton Gardens. There are 35 bedrooms with the designer’s signature gilded edges and botanical prints, as well as a cocktail and champagne bar with lots of mirrors.
The Italian restaurant has charcoal walls and burnished mirrors, and all that’s missing from the art deco Franklin Bar and its Twenties trolley is Jay Gatsby himself. It’s like having your own townhouse, within walking distance of Harrods, Harvey Nicks and the V&A.Booking.com - 8/11
7) The Pilgrm
This Paddington hotel – within easy reach of Hyde Park, Marylebone and Notting Hill – has transformed the Victorian building it’s set within. Today, the Pilgrm has a constantly changing art collection, a cosy lounge begging for you to bring your laptop to and a terrace for cocktails with a view over the busy London streets below.
The makeover also added upcycled radiators, bold blue carpets and plenty of plants, with the parquet flooring and wrought-iron railings a nod to its heritage. The restaurant’s kitchens are manned by a former Grain Store chef (deliciousness is to be expected).
The Pilgrm / Courtesy of the hotel - 9/11
8) Hart Shoreditch
On Great Eastern Street in East London, Hart Shoreditch has a workspace for trendy locals to come and hang out at, beautiful black and white portraits and shiny gold fixtures in the bathrooms. The centrepiece staircase is crafted out of iron and copper, with an art installation backdrop of white latticework (which pops up throughout the hotel) and multiple moon-shaped lampshades providing the illumination.
Barboun, the hotel’s high-ceilinged Levantine restaurant, is crafted almost exclusively from pale wood; and there’s a backgammon board to keep you entertained at the bar counter as the staff pour your drink.
Courtesy of the hotel - 10/11
9) The Portobello Hotel
The London hotel scene’s undisputed wild child since it opened in 1971, the Portobello has seen its fair share of hedonism – it’s home to the room (also of circular bed fame) where Kate Moss and Johnny Depp took the term 'bubble bath' literally and filled their tub with champagne.
Other famous former guests have included Robbie Williams and Alice Cooper. Unsurprisingly, the bohemian bolthole is filled with antiques sourced from its beloved namesake market and beyond.
Courtesy of the hotel - 11/11
10) The Zetter Townhouse Marylebone
The star of this Seymour Street stay is undoubtedly the cocktail lounge, where the interiors are as dazzling as the concoctions. Even the ceiling wasn’t spared, with a bold shade of red gracing the plasterwork and panels. It also has oil paintings, a fireplace and more bottles than even the most talented barman could possibly know what to do with.
The ultimate of the 24 rooms is the rooftop apartment, which has its own staircase, along with an alfresco bath tub for any exhibitionists passing through.
© Steven Joyce
