Handy for Eurostar thanks to its position on a square in vibrant King's Cross, this Victorian townhouse hotel mixes comfort with studied eccentricity – expect upcycled coal-hole covers and repurposed airline trolleys alongside modern air con, smart TVs, good wines and platters in the B&B lounge.

With the feel of a private club rather than a hotel, this beautifully restored Georgian property lies behind the 18th-century facade of three shop-houses in a once-notorious area that is now filled with hip eateries and bars.

Spread across six Georgian townhouses in the shadow of the south tower of One Crown Place, where hip Shoreditch meets the City, this hotel has clubby, inviting interiors with witty modern artworks, richly atmospheric bedrooms, splendid bathrooms, sophisticated Peruvian cuisine, and cocktails in the bar and lounges.

Within a Georgian house in a trendy corner of East London once home to Huguenot silk weavers, Peter McKay and Douglas Blain set out to weave a fantasy of their own.

A Bloomsbury Group theme runs through this lively hotel north of Soho, styled by Kit Kemp, with original artworks from that era, beautifully designed and thoughtfully equipped bedrooms and suites, a lounge, library, heated terrace, all-day dining, and Parisian-style pavement café tables

On a pedestrian street, steps from the Royal Opera House, this Georgian town house is home to four floors of individually styled bedrooms of character – and though they don't serve breakfast, Covent Garden abounds with places to eat and drink.

You can imagine nodding off in an armchair over the latest issue of Samuel Johnson's Idler, or William Hazlitt's polemics in the Tatler, when you step into this time-warp hotel and close the door on trendy Soho. It was here, on a Georgian terrace in the 1820s, that essayist Hazlitt penned his valediction, and antiques and furnishings keep faith with a bygone age.

Launched by a group of friends, and rejoicing in an ambience inspired by vibrant, bohemian Soho, this family-friendly hotel has exuberant decor, generously equipped bedrooms, a street café, a rooftop bar with wraparound terrace, a classy Italian restaurant and a spirit of sheer joie de vivre.

Hip and convivial, this modish Spitalfields wine bar with rooms is a stroll up the colourful street from the Whitechapel Gallery.

From the library and drawing room to the residents-only roof terrace, and from spa and gym to 1950s bowling alley, this is an exuberant, hip, design-conscious hotel, its bedrooms decorated with a sense of fun, while modern European dishes are served in a vast restaurant and on a heated terrace – all tucked away behind Piccadilly Circus.