Hotel Pelirocco, Brighton, United Kingdom

The Pelirocco in Brighton is a rock-n-roll crash pad for rude boys and old rockers, pin heads and surfers, new mods and fly girls - the fashion and music backgrounds of its two owners are evident throughout. A few yards from Brighton’s collapsed West Pier, this eccentric boutique hotel is brilliantly situated for clubs, bars, restaurants, shops and the beach.

The facilities

Pelirocco’s elegant Regency exterior, overlooking a grassy square on Brighton’s seafront, is in complete contrast to the riot of kitsch and colour within. The mad décor of the bar and bedrooms - partly the result of corporate sponsorship - is inspired by 1950s pin-ups, maverick artists, musicians and other media icons. The clientele includes visiting Djs, members of bands, models, media folk and trendy thirty-something couples rekindling romances in festooned boudoirs.

The management at this small boutique hotel is informal and friendly - when you ring the door bell a tousled head appears at a hatch in the dark purple hallway and buzzes you in. The bar, sponsored by PlayStation and decorated with its logos, stays open till 1am on weekdays and 4am on weekends. When we looked in, cheerful shaven-headed guests were knocking back cult cocktails in a cloud of cigarette smoke.

The rooms

Before you book, check out the 19 bedrooms on the Pelirocco's website to find the one for you. The most splendid and most saucy is the Bubble Suite, with 8-foot circular bed, mirrored canopy, 42” plasma screen, giant plunge bath and his’n’hers monsoon showers.

I slept in the Pin Up Parlour, a triumph of bad taste dedicated to blonde bombshell Diana Dors, full of fake fur, frills, feathers and flounces, with wallpaper in glittery gold stripes. I also liked the Mohammed Ali - a tiny single room painted to look like a boxing ring, with the champion’s poetic ramblings scrawled in white on the black walls.