Situated in the heart of the West End’s Fitzrovia district among the Georgian terraces of Bolsover Street, the Grange Fitzrovia is a beautiful hotel, filled with dark woodpanels and leather seats among the original features. The rooms are spacious and come fitted with all modern conveniences, and the hotel also boasts a fine restaurant and bar. Well placed for a West End shopping trip or a short walk south to the theatre district.
The word ‘Fitzrovia’ is most likely taken from the Fitzroy Tavern, and was invented to refer to the bohemian residents of the area such as Dylan Thomas, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf.
Built in 2011, the Grange Tower Bridge is one of the most modern hotels in the world. Featuring an on-site Wellness Centre, and offering a wide selection of beauty and holistic therapies, the hotel is located just around the corner from Tower Bridge making it a good place to start sight-seeing. There are excellent transport links to the rest of London via the Docklands Light Railway and the London Underground. The rooms are fitted with all the very latest amenities, including 3D flat-screen televisions.
Situated on the very doorstep of Paddington station, the Hilton London Paddington is only fifteen minutes away from London Heathrow by train — making it essentially an airport, railway and city hotel in one! Within walking distance of most of London’s main attractions, including Buckingham Palace and the shops of Oxford Street, you can easily venture further into Britain through the National Rail network towards locations such as Stratford-upon-Avon and Windsor.
Until 2001 the hotel was known as the Great Western Royal Hotel. Built in 1854, the Great Western was one of the original grand ‘railway hotels’ built during the railway boom of the nineteenth century. It was run by the Great Western Railway company and still has the original and imposing original façade, although the interior has been heavily remodelled in an Art Deco style.
The Grange Strathmore is the ideal hotel for those looking to enjoy discrete luxury with a feeling of history. A former London townhouse — and residence of the Earl of Strathmore, father of the late Queen Mother — the hotel has undergone a successful modernisation recently, bringing this grand Victorian house into the 21st century. It is ideally located for either shopping in the luxury Knightsbridge boutiques, or a quick visit to the Victoria & Albert, Natural History and Science museums.
The 14th Earl of Strathmore was not your average aristocrat: he tended to dress down while working on his estates in Scotland, so much so that he was often mistaken for a common labourer. He also had a very large and impressive moustache — so large that he would have to hold it apart before he kissed his ten children.