The word ‘boutique’ often gets overused when it comes to hotels, but with a mix of opulence and fashionable design, contemporary gadgetry and history these boutique hotels are a joy to behold. There’s always something to catch your eye in these magic places, from the art to the bespoke furniture. Here are the Good Hotel Guide’s Editor’s Choice selections for best boutique hotels.
2018 Editor's Choice Boutique Hotels
Editor’s Choice Boutique Hotels
Drakes
BRIGHTON
‘Exquisite’ was the verdict of a regular reader on a belated return visit to this ultra-chic hotel on the resort’s Regency seafront.
No. 1 Pery Square
LIMERICK
A grand little handful of Georgian terraces combines into Patricia Roberts’s lovingly restored, ‘elegant’ town house hotel.
The Queensberry
BATH
Close to the Assembly Rooms and other Bath glories, in ‘an unsurpassed situation’ yet ‘so quiet’, Laurence and Helen Beere’s hotel is smart and getting smarter, with bedrooms and bathrooms receiving a designer make-over
Prestonfield
EDINBURGH
A tapestry room, a state drawing room, a whisky room, a sitting room lined with gilded Cordoba leather… James Thomson’s 17th-century mansion beside Royal Holyrood Park pleases by a fine excess.
Bank House
KING'S LYNN
Jeannette and Anthony Goodrich’s investment has reaped a rich return, converting a former bank – albeit one in a Georgian Grade II* listed town house admired by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner – into a ‘very attractive’ boutique hotel.
Number Thirty Eight Clifton
BRISTOL
Whichever room you choose at Adam Dorrien-Smith’s stylish B&B, you are assured of a view. The bay-fronted Georgian merchant’s house stands high on the hill, looking out over Clifton Downs to the fore, and across the city at the rear.
2 Blackburne Terrace
LIVERPOOL
‘Everything perfect. A real find in this wonderful city.’ Our readers are impressed with this chic B&B, in the Georgian quarter, between the two cathedrals.
Chapel House
PENZANCE
‘I have travelled widely but never stayed in a place where I truly felt I was with a close friend.’ Owner Susan Stuart ‘has created a real treat’, says a Guide regular after this year’s visit to the ‘beautifully restored listed house’.
Brocco on the Park
SHEFFIELD
‘Effortless charm and warmth’ personify Tiina Carr’s ‘vibrant’ hotel, a ‘stone’s throw’ from the Botanical Gardens.
The Zetter Townhouse, Clerkenwell
LONDON
A theatrical verve and ‘exceptionally nice staff’ at this Clerkenwell Georgian town house have visitors ‘raving about it’.
2017 Editor's Choice Boutique Hotels
Editor’s Choice Boutique Hotels
The Queensberry
BATH
Close to the Assembly Rooms and other Bath glories, in ‘an unsurpassed situation’ yet ‘so quiet’, Laurence and Helen Beere’s hotel is smart and getting smarter, with bedrooms and bathrooms receiving a designer make-over
The Rookery
London
Along a narrow lane, a lamb-chop toss from Smithfield market, Clerkenwell’s hubbub surrenders to the ‘club-like’ calm of Peter McKay and Douglas Blain’s tumble of 18th-century houses.
38 St Giles
NORWICH
In a ‘lovely old building’ a stroll from marketplace, cathedral and castle, this upmarket B&B is run with commitment and enthusiasm by father and daughter Dennis and Holly Bacon.
Number Thirty Eight Clifton
BRISTOL
Whichever room you choose at Adam Dorrien-Smith’s stylish B&B, you are assured of a view. The bay-fronted Georgian merchant’s house stands high on the hill, looking out over Clifton Downs to the fore, and across the city at the rear.
Artist Residence Brighton
BRIGHTON
Charlotte and Justin Salisbury’s eclectic hotel distils relaxed, creative Brighton into a cool Regency town house.
Old Parsonage Hotel
OXFORD
‘We visit Oxford every year and the Old Parsonage never disappoints.’
Sands Hotel
MARGATE
Sea and sand are steps away from this ‘fantastic’, well-located Victorian hotel, standing on the crescent bay of one of Kent’s original resort towns.
Kings Head Hotel
CIRENCESTER
In its deepest fabric 14th-century, this former coaching inn could, by the 1860s, boast of its hot and cold baths; a more recent revamp has gone much further.
Edgar House
CHESTER
On the broad promendade of the ancient wall of this ‘lovely city’, overlooking the River Dee, Tim Mills and Michael Stephen’s Georgian villa has been made over in a spirit of exuberance.
The Zetter Townhouse Marylebone
LONDON
This delightful ‘dotty’ hotel was once home to that Victorian purveyor of nonsense verse Edward Lear.
2016 Editor's Choice Boutique Hotels
Editor’s Choice Boutique Hotels
The Levin
LONDON
Location, location, location: the small but perfectly formed Levin is just a credit card toss from Harrods, close to the designer stores and cultural hubs of Knightsbridge and a stroll from the green lungs of Hyde Park.
Hart’s Hotel
NOTTINGHAM
Returning guests in 2018 ‘enjoyed a relaxing time in warmth and comfort’ at Tim Hart’s purpose-built hotel, on the former ramparts of Nottingham’s medieval castle.
Jesmond Dene House
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Above the dene (ravine with a stream), surrounded by ‘attractive woodland’, sits Peter Candler’s ‘impressive’ 19th-century hotel.
The Grazing Goat
London
In one of those atmospheric London entities – a street that feels like a village in the heart of the capital – this hip pub-with-rooms assumes the role of community hub, yet has ‘a great location’, within minutes of frenetic Oxford Street.
Old Bank Hotel
OXFORD
A former draper’s and mercer’s–turned–bank, opposite the Bodleian Library, is these days a smart bar, restaurant and hotel.
The Zetter
LONDON
Handy for the Square Mile and the West End, this hip hotel conversion of a Victorian warehouse, in its 15th year, is on its best form yet.
The Zetter Townhouse, Clerkenwell
LONDON
A theatrical verve and ‘exceptionally nice staff’ at this Clerkenwell Georgian town house have visitors ‘raving about it’.