Marylebone
Europe’s first grand hotel, opened in 1865 by the Prince of Wales. Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde dined here on the same night and both left with book deals, which is more than most business lunches achieve.
The Palm Court claims afternoon tea as its invention. Artesian, the bar, has been crowned the best in the world more often than is strictly decent.
The beds: Savoir.
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…