The Mandeville Hotel, London

Hotel Information: Emerging from the stuffy heat of Bond Street underground station onto rush-hour Oxford Street, London is typically abuzz with activity. But just a few streets from the bustle, tucked away off fashionable Marylebone High Street, a rather special hotel offers respite from the rush. Privately owned, The Mandeville has just had a £15 million refurbishment. Now everything has been given a bit more space, and each room has that touch of individualism that marks out the boutique hotel. At the top, the hotel’s split-level penthouse has the privacy of a townhouse and includes a small roof terrace overlooking Hinde Street Church and the rooftops of London. Throughout, the feel is that of a sophisticated and stylish, yet comfortable, property. The heart of the hotel is the supercool de Vigne Bar. Here vibrant colours of red, yellow, green and silver stand out, while the focal neon-lit bar changes through these tones sporadically, generating a lively and warm ambience throughout the room.The drinks are great too, with an imaginative cocktail list created by their in-house mixologist, the inventor of the bar’s signature cocktail, Honey Suckle – a mixture of honey vodka, rose petal liquor, elderflower, fresh raspberries and champagne.

Room Information: 142 rooms. Continental breakfast costs GBP 16.50 per person. Full English breakfast costs GBP 21.50 per person. .

Rates: from 150€

Next door, the equally modish de Ville restaurant is a secluded place in which to enjoy a traditional afternoon tea, or to settle in for a dinner based on the best of modern British fare – simple dishes based on great produce – so the potato soup tastes of potato and isn’t just warm comfort, while the rosemary rib steak served with sumptuous cherry tomatoes still on the vine and properly chunky chips leaves the most weary diner restored. It’s all dished up in surroundings that have as much attitude as the punchy flavours of the food – like much of the downstairs of the hotel, the restaurant reflects a certain tongue-in-cheek theatre. Modern, large patterned floral motif wallpaper and two imposing statues wearing Venetian masks dominate the room, between which hangs a digitally enhanced image of a slightly surreal white rabbit. It’s quirky, but sometimes we like it like that. Upstairs in the bedrooms, the colourful design remains – less theatrical, but no less charming for that. The beds are lined with pea-green bedspreads, the headboards are upholstered in white, panelled faux leather and a mirror board. At the foot of the bed fuchsia pink armchairs are nice for reclining in while watching the flat-screen LCD television that comes with each room. It has to be said, the marble-floored en suite bathroom in my deluxe room was a bit of a squeeze, but the particularly powerful shower made up for that, and had me wide awake the next morning, well able to weave my way once more through the thronging mass of London’s streets.