A smart hotel in a former boys’ school between Olympia London exhibition centre and Hammersmith.

A change of both name and feel for Bingham Riverhouse this year, its ‘more traditional, opulent style’ replaced by ‘something more informal and friendly’, say our inspectors.

‘No bland corporate anonymity here.’ Beyond the portico of a white stucco Victorian mansion lies a truly boutique hotel, part of Kit and Tim Kemp’s Firmdale group.

Osbert Lancaster dubbed the style ‘Pont Street Dutch’, but behind the gabled red brick facade of twin Victorian mansions, you are in Italy.

Across from the pocket park of Orange Square, with its statue of a young Mozart, this ‘upmarket pub/café/restaurant’ is a sister to the Grazing Goat (see entry).

Forget starving in a garret. Artists need their creature comforts like the rest of us, and find them at Charlotte and Justin Salisbury’s hip hotels (see also Brighton, South Leigh).

All is serene at this handsome 1860s town house hotel (Firmdale group) just minutes from Hyde Park.

Bright modernity filters through this smart, surprisingly affordable Belgravia B&B within walking distance of some of London’s most iconic sights.

High-spec technology meets ‘domesticated heaven’ at this sophisticated Pimlico hotel on a tranquil garden square, within easy reach of a major travel hub.

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.