It promises ‘luxury for the curious’, and this independent boutique hotel on a grand neoclassical street does not disappoint. The Grade I listed building has been given a ‘stylish’, ‘quirky’ make-over, with copious chandeliers and statement lighting, displays of brass instruments, dinky handbags, plates, kaleidoscopes … ‘Fabulously helpful’ staff are clearly happy in their work. Some compact bedrooms on the top ‘Artists’ Floor’ have a bespoke mural. Themed deluxe doubles have exotic bird wallpaper on the ceilings, parrot lamps. Coach House rooms, behind a mock-Gothic facade, sport muted shades, bright splashes of colour and larky artwork, a rain shower, perhaps a bath, mood lighting. Toiletries are by Bamford and 100 Acres. In The Dispensary, with its antique apothecary cabinets, breakfast choices include organic porridge, eggy bread with forest fruits and vanilla mascarpone, eggs Florentine. At dinner, chef Matt Gillard’s dishes range from simple beer-battered hake goujons and burgers, to exotic panko king prawn and squid, miso mayo, gochujang chilli sauce, burnt lime. ‘A must-stay hotel’, a reader writes, a far cry from its dour days as a temperance hotel for Second World War veterans.