AN INSPECTOR CALLS

ANYONE looking for a quick pick-me-up at this dispiriting time of year should pop into the bar at the new Bloomsbury hotel, almost opposite the British Museum in what estate agents like to call London’s Bloomsbury/Fitzrovia border.

It’s a magnificent room, with rich coral walls, original art, high ceilings, acres of space, sassy stools and brightly lit shelves stocking every spirit imaginable. The only trouble is that we’re not drinking.

‘Then you might like to look at the last page of the cocktail menu,’ says the barmen, as he pours something or other into a glass from a mighty height without spilling a drop.

Sure enough, two kinds of Seedlip (a non-alcoholic, ginlike concoction) are on the list. No kick, but it’s perfectly pleasant for those of us longing for Dry January to be over.

The Bloomsbury is part of the Doyle Collection. I have stayed in a few of its hotels (The Westbury in Dublin, The Kensington in, well, Kensington). They’re extraordinarily welcoming.

The staff are all engaged and engaging, the food fresh and uncomplicated.

We’ve booked the cheapest room, at £218 B&B, but are upgraded to a large, comfortable one with two armchairs, a desk and marble bathroom with one of those walk-in showers that jets water at different angles.

The walls of our room are a dark bluey-green; the leather bedhead is the colour of a decent Chianti, if only I were allowed one.

There’s a TV on the wall near the free-standing bathtub, and on the bedside table are two paperbacks — one chronicling the history of The Bloomsbury hotel (designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1928, originally as a YMCA), the other a volume of poetry with a hotel theme, including works by Seamus Heaney and Sir Andrew Motion.

The literary theme continues downstairs in a gorgeous sitting room, where a young artist has been commissioned to reproduce paintings of, and by, the racy Bloomsbury set.

One thing we can’t work out is the dining room, which sits on an outside terrace divided by the main entrance to the hotel and enclosed in huge plastic sheets. Overhead heaters are on and rugs are available.

It’s as though the restaurant were an afterthought.

What adds to the mystery is that there is a dining room in the basement, but it’s only open for breakfast and only if you’re on the B&B package.

Mind you, the terrace restaurant must come into its own on a balmy summer’s night. We’ll be back in July.

the Bloomsbury 16-22 Great russell St London WC1B 3NN

tel: 020 7347 1000 doylecollection.com Doubles from £218 B&B