The Queensberry

In a quiet residential street just off the Circus, this boutique hotel is owned by Laurence and Helen Beere and managed by Lauren McCann. It is a conversion of four adjoining town houses designed by John Wood for the Marquis of Queensberry in 1771. The service is 'good to excellent', writes an inspector this year, 'everything professional; the food is good'. The public rooms are 'elegant, well kept'; a glass roof contributes to a light feel. The bedrooms are reached off a series of stairs and corridors. 'Ours, well designed and furnished, had a spacious, well-appointed bathroom. The cool contemporary style was almost taken too far; I yearned for a dash of colour, even in bad taste.' All rooms have flat-screen TV, DAB radio and CD-player; the suites have an iPod docking station and a wet room; there are roll-top baths and huge shower heads. In the smart Olive Tree restaurant, in three rooms below stairs, chef Nick Brodie's modern menu might include seared scallops with Jerusalem artichoke confit; duo of beef, creamed potato, glazed root vegetables. Breakfast, served here, in the bedrooms, or in one of the four 'charming' terraced gardens, 'was good, especially the bread and patisserie'. Other visitors this year found 'little to criticise' except for a request for a tip on the credit card slip.