Five of London’s best hotels

Well established as a design capital – the famed Victoria and Albert Museum was founded in the 19th century as a design museum – London has become the world’s best hotel city. There are the pillars of timeless elegance, like Claridge’s and The Connaught, which set the hospitality bar quite high while injecting glamour into the hotels’ cocktail bars and restaurants, but England’s capital also hosts hospitality start-ups.

In the city’s current hotel-opening boom times, here are five standouts:

Vintry &Mercer

Vintry & Mercer; from about $225; 19-20 Garlick Hill, City of London. (Picture: Amy Murrell)

Named for the 14th-century merchants and traders who established this district in the City of London, this 92-room hotel is 100% powered by renewable energy and has a rooftop terrace, where lunch comes with views of St. Paul’s and the Shard. Velvet headboards, leather door handles and vintage-map wallpaper give the individually designed rooms lush character; lots of plants in the public spaces create a business traveller’s bolthole; and Do Not Disturb, an underground speakeasy with leather banquettes and images of Zeigfield Follies girls on the walls, has its own sultry entrance set back on Garlick Hill.

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.(Picture: Handout)

Just before a major renovation was to be unveiled last year, a fire ripped through this property, so the old-world behemoth had to be renovated again – for a total cost of $192 million (R2.8 billion). The results are shockingly luxurious and certainly not for the thin walleted, but well suited to one of the few hotels on Hyde Park. You can set your Rolex by the Royal Horse Guards riding by every morning at 10.30 on the way to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Inside, there are 198 rooms, an enormous heated pool, limited edition Mary McCartney photographs on the walls of guest floors and Dinner, a restaurant by Heston Blumenthal.

The Dixon

The Dixon. Very near Tower Bridge and the Tate Modern, this 193-room hotel is a refurbished 1905 magistrate’s court. (Picture: Handout)

Very near Tower Bridge and the Tate Modern, this 193-room hotel is a refurbished 1905 magistrate’s court. While there’s a whiff of businessman’s hotel design in the rooms (it’s part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection), some details from architect John Dixon Butler’s Edwardian original are intact, such as the Y-shaped central staircase. There are cheeky allusions to the building’s history, too: a coffee table in the Orwell Suite was made from benches etched by former prisoners, a glass chandelier in the lobby is made up of tiny handcuffs, mug shots decorate the Courtroom bar and the coffee roasted on site is called – wait for it – Shakedown.

Belmond Cadogan Hotel

Belmond Cadogan Hotel is a 54-room (and suite) boutique hotel in central London with lots of exclusivity, including access to the mulberry trees and tennis courts of the private Cadogan Place Gardens. (Picture: Handout)

The original Cadogan Hotel, where Oscar Wilde was arrested in 1895, was built in 1887. After a four-year, $48 million restoration, it’s now a 54-room (and suite) boutique hotel in central London. Original design details – working fireplaces, mosaic floors, wood panelling – have been preserved, and rooms have a plush residential vibe with little sofas, intricate molding and eclectic art under recessed lighting.

The Hoxton, Southwark

The Hoxton, Southwark. The Hoxton, Southwark; from about $265; 40 Blackfriars Road, South Bank. (Picture: Handout)

A new 14-storey building among the converted factories on the south side of Blackfriars Bridge, London’s third Hoxton hotel is due to open this month. The 192 rooms — designed by Ennismore Design Studio — come in five categories: Shoebox, Snug, Cosy, Roomy and Biggy, all fitted with British-made new and antique furniture.

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