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. Owned by Peter McKay and Douglas Blain, founding members of the Spitalfields Trust, this huddle of knocked-through 18th-century houses is replete with antique furniture, crackling fires, ‘gilt-framed portraits’, rich silks and velvets. ‘A soothing space’ infused with a club-like calm, it is a world away from surrounding, trendy Clerkenwell and Smithfield (the meat market, a triumph of Victorian architecture, is close by). Walls are painted in heritage shades. Bedrooms have a 17th-century carved oak bed or four-poster, a minibar, new-fangled air conditioning. Junior suites, with a panelled sitting room, have a vintage roll-top bath, walk-in shower, a throne loo. From the Rook’s Nest suite, with Victorian bathing machine, a staircase leads to a sitting room under a 40-foot spire. There are cordials from the Conservatory’s honesty bar, victuals and breakfast from a room-service menu including freshly baked pastries, smoothies, a smoked salmon bagel or bacon sandwich. (See also sister hotel, Hazlitt’s.)