A calm oasis in buzzy surroundings, Kit Kemp’s signature modern English style surges through this swanky West End hotel.

Just north of Soho and the West End theatres, the zesty embrace of art and colour confirms this hotel as one in Tim and Kit Kemp’s Firmdale group.

Named after former resident and essayist William Hazlitt, this ‘stunningly individual’ hotel, owned by Peter McKay and Douglas Blain, is a sensuous escape from Soho directly outside.

‘Simple, ideally located and representing good value’, this small hotel with a pretty, plant-decked Georgian exterior is ‘remarkably quiet’ considering its prime position in bustling Covent Garden.

Sculptor Fernando Botero’s ten-foot-high bronze cat cheekily pokes its tongue out at guests in the lobby of this creatively designed hotel.

A Gallic oasis off busy Covent Garden Piazza created by four Parisians (Experimental Group), this small hotel occupies a couple of red brick Victorian town houses with a literary past as the former offices of Victor Gollancz.

Guests are bowled over by this tranquil hotel in Soho, which has sweeping views over the London skyline.

A gleeful mix of vintage furnishings and striking artwork defines this ‘beautiful, very quiet hotel’ ideally situated for Theatreland.

Wit and whim go hand in hand at Mark Sainsbury and Michael Benyan’s ‘brilliantly quirky’ Georgian town house in a cobbled corner of Clerkenwell.

A design-led boutique hotel with impressive green credentials (it pumps water from its own 1,500-foot borehole), this former Victorian warehouse embodies the renaissance of East London.

There may now be USB charge sockets in all bedrooms, but this hotel retains such an air of a bygone age that you half expect Dr Johnson to swing by from his house a stroll away.

In a quiet spot, this Mayfair hotel (part of the Althoff collection) in a former diplomats’ club has a secret shortcut on to Green Park.

Discreetly tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the West End, a calm town house hotel with an intriguing history.

‘I have stayed at this lovely hotel for many years, and it still pleases in every respect,' writes a reader in 2019, of this cherished London institution, contrived from four knocked-through Georgian town houses.

In ‘a great location’ in vibrant ‘Portman Village’, tucked away behind Oxford Street, this ‘all-day café/bar/restaurant-with-rooms’ has a relaxed vibe.

Choose Lear’s Loft bedroom at this Georgian town house and you can dance to the light of the moon on a roof terrace with alfresco copper bath, then phone down for mince and slices of quince and a runcible spoon.

Front-facing rooms peep into the royal mews from the fifth floor of this historic building, overlooking Buckingham Palace.

A complimentary glass of cava – a nod to the hotel group’s Spanish origins – welcomes guests to this good-value hotel within walking distance of the National Theatre and the South Bank.

‘We enjoyed our very expensive one-night stay,’ writes a reader who pushed the boat out at Jeremy Goring’s grand Edwardian hotel, the last of its kind in London to be run by the founding family.

‘Distinctly cool’ European luxury combines with ‘exceptionally good value’ in this City hotel designed with playful flair by Terence Conran.

‘Intensely stylish’, this good-value hotel welcomes visitors with a playful blend of slick architecture and arcade-game nostalgia.

‘On arrival we discovered that our package included afternoon tea, which we enjoyed before a concert at Cadogan Hall.’

The show-stopper at this small hotel is Sharon Marston’s April Light, an 18-metre cascade of polished steel, polymer and glass fibre optics, which hangs in the central stairwell, scattering colours and light.