Novelists, politicians, silk merchants as well as the petty thieves, tarts and vagabonds of the area are commemorated in this eccentric hotel in gentrified Spitalfields.

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

Above Tower Hill Underground station, this Dutch-owned modern hotel has breathtaking views, and delivers good-value accommodation with bundles of style.

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

In a former grammar school for boys near Tower Bridge, Victorian grandeur has been overlaid with Indian opulence to make a classy hotel.

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.

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.

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.

Galleries, an antiques market, arthouse cinema – buzzy Bermondsey is home to trendsetting London culture and this youthful, privately owned hotel offers good-value, comfortable accommodation in a bright, modern setting.

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.

A lively vibe attracts bright young things to this former office block-turned-cool hotel.

‘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.

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.