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Where London’s design hotels feel most themselves
A broad, design-led sweep of London hotels, from old Mayfair grandees to newer arrivals in Bloomsbury, Fitzrovia and Soho.
Architectural Digest rounds up a wide-ranging London hotel list that is really about the city’s different moods. The old guard is here in force — Brown’s Hotel, Claridge’s, The Dorchester, The Connaught and The Berkeley — but the more interesting thread is how newer or recently refreshed stays are finding their own corners of the city. Zetter Bloomsbury joins six Georgian townhouses beside the British Museum; Grand Hotel Bellevue brings Fabrizio Casiraghi’s darker palette to Paddington; At Sloane turns a Chelsea redbrick into something between boutique hotel and private club; and The Newman gives Fitzrovia a quieter, design-literate new address.
The piece is strongest when it lingers on interiors and the sort of details you would clock on arrival: Murano chandeliers and brass elephants at Broadwick Soho, seven white stucco buildings stitched together at The Kensington, a glass-roofed atrium at NoMad London, and an all-suite, six-designer approach at The Emory. There is plenty on bars and dining too, from The Connaught Bar’s martinis to Dear Jackie at Broadwick Soho, the Orangery at Zetter Bloomsbury and the rooftop scenes at several of the newer names.
It is still a best-of list, so expect brisk entries rather than deep reporting, plus plenty of prices and perks. Even so, it is useful if you are choosing not just a hotel but a part of London: Mayfair for polished tradition, Soho for late nights, Chelsea and Kensington for museums and shopping, Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury for something a little quieter.
Our summary of a story from Architectural Digest, published 2 October 2026. Read the original
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From Architectural Digest