Threadneedles

Hotel description

Financial districts are always unlikely places for hotels with anything resembling style-after all, if the bottom line were the only concern, we’d all be staying in chain hotels beneath the airport landing approaches. Bucking this trend, though, is London’s Threadneedles, a seventy-room boutique every bit as stylish as the West End shoppers’ hotels, but located right in the middle of the City.

Though the building’s days as the Midlands Bank are long past, the smell of money yet hangs in the air; the conversion can’t have been cheap, given the sheer volume of leather and wood paneling, and the handsome modern furnishings in the lounge. The most ostentatious features, though, are original, from the solid oak doors at the entrance to the marble columns and the hand-painted glass dome that tops the lobby.

The guest rooms are no less steeped in smart modern luxury, all neutral tones and open spaces, with nothing less than the boutique standard Frette linens and duck down duvets. Thoughtful touches include plasma screens by the bed and the bath, and a generous work desk complete with internet connections. Cheap hotels often show it in the lighting, and this isn’t one-check the bright and even limestone bathrooms or the soft glow of the bedrooms for proof.

Also not cheap is Bond’s, the restaurant, an impressive and clubby independent venue that is, alas, closed at the weekend. In fact most of the City lies vacant on Saturday and Sunday, making these the perfect days to see Threadneedles at a substantial discount-if you can deal with the disaster-movie quiet of the streets outside.