Square, Brighton, United Kingdom

Brighton boutique hotel Square is owner Keith Allison’s second hotel venture. His first was Nineteen, a contemporary, basic-chic bed and breakfast place with the feel of an upmarket hostel. Square is Nineteen’s more mature and infinitely better-dressed sibling.

The facilities

You walk straight off the street into the boutique hotel's reception/bar/lounge. Low, white vinyl seating, glass, perspex and clever contemporary lighting show that plenty of thought has gone into the detail. It is easy to imagine this room full of bright young things, down from London for the weekend.

Keith has lived and worked in luxury hotels around the world and has a very specific idea about what he wants from a boutique hotel. Service is a key element, and Square has got it right, as the staff spoil you without making you feel smothered. You can have breakfast (with champagne) brought up to your room. You can arrange a variety of in-room treatments including an indulgent couples’ massage or also drink excellent cocktails in the bar until the early hours. And you can equally just hole up in your room, secure in the knowledge that no-one will knock on your door the moment you get into the bath.

The rooms

The ten rooms at the boutique hotel are small but chic, detailed and novel without being gimmicky, a mistake made by some of the quirkier Brighton boutique hotels. The beautiful walnut wood floors are soundproofed and walls are demure woollen mulberries and mushrooms. Beds are clouds of bright white Egyptian cotton with fluffy blankets and faux-fur throws. Witty perspex seats, mirrored furniture and ostentatious chandeliers add character, whilst suede corner couches sitting opposite sleek slivers of flat-screen technology offer comfort.

The bathrooms at the boutique hotel are handsome in dark grey slate and chrome. The best bathrooms have discreetly positioned full-length glass partitions through to the bedrooms so you can lie in your roll-top bath, sip a gin and tonic and look out to sea.

The boutique hotel contains five king rooms and four double rooms. Four of the king rooms have sea views, but the best room of all is thereverse penthouse, a maisonette-style suite in the basement, which takes up the entire floor. The perfect pad for an indulgent weekend.