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. Beautifully proportioned junior suites occupy the first-floor drawing rooms of the four Georgian houses that combine to make the whole. The four-poster suite has a modern four-poster and double walk-through shower, while some deluxe doubles can accommodate a child’s roll-away bed. Contemporary decor and furnishings combine happily with original features. In Old Q bar, the spirit of John Douglas, Marquess of Queensberry, is larkily evoked with a list of contemporary Queensberry Rules – no stilts, pogo sticks, audible obscenities or shouting into mobile phones… (‘But Old Q was the notorious 4th duke,’ a pedant writes; don’t spoil the fun, we say.) Here you can take a club sandwich, a ploughman’s platter, while in the Olive Tree restaurant, Chris Cleghorn creates tasting menus for omnivores, vegetarians, vegans (order à la carte if you prefer). A typical dish: brill on the bone, artichoke, mustard, button mushroom, sea herbs. Service is ‘happy, relaxed, positive, friendly’.