Soho
Kit Kemp’s riotous interiors in a leafy courtyard just off Piccadilly Circus. Ham Yard has its own bowling alley, imported from Germany, which is perhaps the only German thing I have ever seen in Soho behave with complete restraint.
The roof terrace is a secret garden above the din, and the staff have that knack, peculiar to Firmdale, of being charming without being cloying. Dogs are welcome and thoroughly spoilt.
MayfairClaridge’sClaridge’s is less a hotel than a state of mind, and a very agreeable one at that. The Art Deco foyer, the black and white marble, the…C
MayfairThe ConnaughtThe Connaught is the quiet aristocrat of Carlos Place: polished mahogany, a staircase you could propose on, and a bar that has, I am…B
KnightsbridgeThe BerkeleyThe younger, more fashionable sibling of Claridge’s and The Connaught, The Berkeley wears its glamour lightly and its rooftop pool rather…R
PiccadillyThe RitzA Belle Époque fantasy of marble, ormolu and pink velvet, The Ritz remains the definition of the grand hotel in the minds of the world.…G
BelgraviaThe GoringFamily-owned since 1910, which in London hotel terms makes it practically feudal. The Goring is the last great hotel run by the family…B
MayfairBrown’s HotelLondon’s oldest hotel, where Kipling wrote and Alexander Graham Bell made a telephone call that he presumably regretted for the rest of his…