‘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).

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

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).

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

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