Leading lights

Indulge in some old-school glamour at Bloomsbury’s latest luxury hotels

KIMPTON FITZROY LONDON

I have a soft spot for Bloomsbury, and not just the easy-to-love bits such as Coram’s Fields and The Lamb on Lamb’s Conduit Street. No, I also mean touristy, bus-clogged Woburn Place, which becomes Russell Square then Southampton Row, off which there are so many leafy squares that its light feels permanently dappled. But spending the night? Not likely. Until now.

Built in 1898, the Hotel Russell was once lovely but had been down-at-heel for years. A vision of Grade Ii-listed terracotta stretching the entire length of Russell Square, it reopened this spring after a complete transformation by Principal Hotels. Disconcertingly, it has just been bought by a different hotel group so is now called Kimpton Fitzroy London. They say nothing much will change but the name, which I hope is true.

While there’s no mistaking this is a big corporate hotel, its striking original features, which include the pillared, mosaic-floored lobby, grand marble staircases and stained-glass windows, have been beautifully restored, paired with contemporary furniture and generally injected with a sense of decadent fun.

At wood-panelled Fitz’s, a glamorous, low-lit art-deco-inspired bar where comfy banquettes sit beneath a giant glitter ball, creative cocktails are served, such as Spy Princess (vodka, rhubarb and ginger liqueur, champagne). At modern seafood-focused restaurant Neptune – a grand but relaxed, peachcoloured dining room – there’s an oyster bar, a wood grill and extraordinary seafood platters loaded with oyster, crab, langoustines and mackerel rillettes. There’s also Palm Court for afternoon tea and Burr & Co, an all-day café inspired by a Victorian coffee house. The hotel’s elegant rooms, many with four-posters, are understated and serene. Book a corner suite and you can lie in the bath enjoying those leafy views.

L’OSCAR

A short stroll south is L’oscar, the first London hotel by flamboyant French designer Jacques Garcia and a tribute to Oscar Wilde. An intimate affair – there are just 39 rooms – this friendly jewellery box of a hotel is housed in the old headquarters of the Baptist Church and feels just a little bit debauched. The lavish colour scheme is accented everywhere by butterfly and bird motifs – from Lalique-style butterfly taps to gorgeous bird light fittings. Upstairs, a Grade Ii-listed octagonal chapel with a domed roof houses the Baptist Bar & Grill. We loved the tender rib-eye with garlic, snails and bordelaise, and the curried-lamb shepherd’s pie, with a deliciously crunchy topping.

Back downstairs, watch the world go by over breakfast at Café L’oscar, and enjoy buttermilk pancakes with streaky bacon and gruyère omelettes.

Bloomsbury group: the newly renamed Kimpton Fitzroy London and, below, L’oscar 1. KIMPTON FITZROY LONDON Doubles from £225 (ihg.com) 2. L’OSCAR Doubles from £450 (loscar.com)