The Rookery
Powder your wig and imagine you’re arriving by sedan chair at this singular hotel, occupying a Georgian terrace and presented as a piece of living history. More
Good Hotel Guide Review
Powder your wig and imagine you’re arriving by sedan chair at this singular hotel, occupying a Georgian terrace and presented as a piece of living history. Some 30 years ago, self-styled ‘old gits’ Peter McKay and Douglas Blain bought the properties, close to Smithfield Market, and created a glorified B&B. They also own Hazlitt’s, London (see entry), and behind their apparent whimsy lies a deep impulse to preserve the old and beautiful. A fire burns in a clubby conservatory lounge, with well-stocked honesty bar and leafy patio. Bedrooms are replete with heavy silk curtains or shutters, impressive antiques, oil paintings and quaint vintage bathroom fittings, along with such modern comforts as air conditioning and a minibar. A ground-floor suite named after the founder of the nearby Charterhouse (because numbers are impersonal) has a carved four-poster and panelled sitting room. You can order dishes from a room-service menu, breakfast on delicious pastries and freshly squeezed orange juice, and dine in great restaurants in this trendy area, a den of thieves in Dickens’s day, nicknamed ‘The Rookery’.
Hotel details
Address
12 Peter's Lane
Cowcross Street
London
EC1M 6DS
England
Telephone
020 7336 0931
Bedrooms
33. 1 on ground floor.
Open
all year.
Facilities
conservatory lounge, meeting rooms, in-room TV (Sky), small patio garden, unsuitable for disabled.
Background music
none.
Children
all ages welcomed (under-13s, sharing with parents, stay free in some rooms).
Dogs
not allowed.
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
per room £274–£374. Breakfast from about £12, à la carte (from limited room-service menu) £28.