Charlotte Street Hotel, London, United Kingdom
Charlotte Street Hotel 5 Stars
“The flawless décor is calm, contemporary English, whilst restaurant Oscar’s is always busy: one of our favourite London boutique hotels.”
The Press Say
"...almost faultless service, combined with the modern art, slick clientele, good food, and sophisticated ambience make for a stylish urban retreat." Times 06Hotel Overview
Review of Charlotte Street Hotel, by The TI Review Team
TI reviewer Rebecca Stumpf:
Opened in 2000, the Charlotte Street Hotel (one of the Firmdale hotels owned and designed by Kit and Tim Kemp) attracts media and entertainment types to its Soho, London address while carefully guarding its low-key atmosphere.
Keeping up with the other Firmdale Hotels, Charlotte Street Hotel has a theme, and Kit has kitted out an array of rooms inspired by the Bloomsbury Group. The boutique hotel's collection of original art include pieces by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, well blended with modern details such as a Botero pup and a mural of 21st-century London life that brightens the walls.
The airy lobby, fronted by the Botero dog that's keen on playing the mascot, has welcoming oak floors and warm side panelling. The boutique hotel's brasserie, Oscar's, is visible through paned glass to the left and a cheery drawing room and library are tucked away at the lobby's end beyond the check-in desk. The library is a nice example of the Kemp overall aesthetic; that is, a private and visually interesting space. Think engraved, Victorian-style marble fireplace topped with a Rothko-esque painting of two charcoal black rectangles rolled across a fire-red canvas (it's design moves like this that keep prudishness at bay).
Especially convenient for Charlotte Street Hotel's clientele (although this goes for other Firmdale Hotels as well) are the boutique hotel's intimate meeting spaces and private, state-of-the-art screening room, a sexy entrepreneurial touch found at Covent Garden and Soho Hotel as well. As for general 'bang for your buck', Charlotte Street Hotel falls in the middle of the Kemp range - less of a bank roll than Covent Garden or Soho Hotel but slightly more of an investment than the Pelham Number Sixteen, or the Knightsbridge Hotel.
Other Kemp touches you can count on at Charlotte Street Hotel are to be found in the 52 bedrooms, each equipped with delightfully chunky furnishings (in the smaller doubles the furniture has a slightly Alice-in-Wonderland, oversized quality), individually designed curtained bed heads, functionally stoic granite and oak bathrooms with deep tubs (and mini TVs), and all the necessary mod cons. Hallways are a little close and labyrinth-like, but on the upside this enhances the feeling of discovery upon opening the door into a bright, well-appointed luxury room.
Facilities
Hotel Policies
Rooms
52Awards
"Gold List" Conde Nast 06Who stays here?
Daniel Craig, David Hasslehoff and John Travolta.
Come for...
- The perfect Fitzrovia location
- Friday night movies in the screening room
- The open-plan penthouse
Not Suitable for...
- The secretive: sooner or later someone who knows you will walk through the lobby
Children
Cots are available and babysitting services and day trips for children can be organised through the conceirge. The hotel restaurant is happy to create a special children's menu upon request.
Eating in
It's a media feeding frenzy at Oscar's - the buzz starts over coffee and builds throughout the day to cocktails and dinner.
Reviews
Review of Charlotte Street, by Nadia Latif
In the heart of London's Fitzrovia lies Kit Kemp's beautiful boutique hotel, Charlotte Street. Everything about it, from the name, to the decor, to the hordes of artsy types that patronise it, pays homage to the suave and sophistication of the Bloomsbury set. A definite elder sister to the more vibrant Haymarket and Soho Hotel, its discreet demeanour and chic restaurant are popular with camera-shy celebs and media moguls.
One of its biggest draws, apart from the gorgeous bedrooms, is Fitzrovia favourite: Oscar's bar and restaurant. Fronted by big glass doors that are opened (weather permitting) into the bustling street below, the clusters of tables and chairs inside and out are inviting and informal. It is always busy, so that moving beyond the eatery into the quiet communal areas behind comes as a bit of a shock.
Charlotte Street's Sunday night films are a real treat, housed in the 67-seater screening room. Huge red-leather seats, popcorn and a great mix of classics and new releases make it understandably popular with guests and locals. Other great communal areas include the guests-only drawing room and library, stuffed full of huge squashy sofas and artwork by Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and Roger Fry.
The boutique hotel's 52 rooms and suites are all individually decorated with typical Kemp flair. Everything is as comforting and refined as the rest - Tivoli radios, flat-screen televisions, huge beds draped in luxury linens and the ubiquitous mannequins that feature in every room. Every one is stamped with its own quirky personality, from shocking pink velvet and floral motifs to antiquated furniture and contemporary wall hangings. Charlotte Street comes out top for style-savvy sophistication in the city.
Review of The Charlotte Street Hotel, by Angela Moore
Charlotte Street Hotel is one of designer Kit Kemp's growing family of designer babies. Most recently, of course, she and husband Tim opened the Soho Hotel in London- the vibrant, slightly naughty younger sister. Charlotte Street Hotel is more like the successful businesswoman of the family - a hotel that's beautifully groomed and radiates effortless, understated elegance.
Downstairs there's a long, simple reception hall, which leads through to Oscar's, the bar and restaurant, on the left. Charlotte Street is in the media-land north of Soho and Oscar is often filled with BAFTA winners chatting up production company bosses. It's buzzy, but it makes for a fair amount of traffic through reception. The drawing room and library at the end of the reception hall are more private spaces but you'd have to retreat to your room to guarantee any undisturbed privacy. The basement screening room, with its smart pinstriped walls and luxurious red leather chairs, runs a popular Sunday night Film Club.
Kit's impeccable eye is everywhere. Wallpaper is textured and patterned, whimsical antique pieces mix in with contemporary paintings and sculpture. Colours are muted pastels, umbers and slates. The drawing room is inspired by the Bloomsbury set and there are Roger Fry, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell paintings on the walls. Everything feels perfectly unpretentious, confident and at ease with itself.
There are 52 bedrooms and each has its own personality, though they have in common a fresh English chic. Because it's an old building, there are little oddities - convoluted corridors and twisted flights of stairs - that add immeasurably to the character of the place. One basic double room is liberally decked out in Toile wallpaper in burgundy and white, to match the bedcovers. It's spacious enough and has the standard London Mary Poppins-style rooftop-and-street views.
Superior doubles at Charlotte Street are far more fun. The deep beds are hung with half-canopies in different styles - one room has a demure African theme and a canopy is fringed with guinea fowl feathers. There's generally enough room for a sofa, a pair of armchairs and Brancusi-inspired desks. The penthouse is an open-plan wonder. It pulls off feeling like an attic room without being cramped, and feels like a separate sitting room and bedroom without using walls. Throughout, bathrooms are brisk and made of granite and oak.