Five-star The Soho Hotel was opened to much fanfare in autumn 2005 by Tim and Kit Kemp, the glamorous hoteliers fast monopolising the industry of London’s hotels. Although being their largest offering (with 91 rooms), it still has a boutique feel thanks to signature warm and witty pastels and homely florals, and despite being in the centre of Soho, the hotel is set back in a quiet cul-de-sac. Purpose-built with a redbrick warehouse vibe on the site of a former car park, rooms are well proportioned and suffused with light; large granite and oak bathrooms feature Firmdale’s standard bounty of Miller Harris toiletries.

The ground-floor drawing rooms and library of The Soho Hotel offer comfort and seclusion, while the bar/restaurant, Refuel, is packed with dressed-down media types from the power-breakfast hour till the final cocktail. As Soho’s hippest haute hotel, the local film-industry crowd have embraced its public spaces while Hollywood execs have taken to block-booking the six top-floor apartments (the Terrace Suite, with views as far as Canary Wharf, has been lauded as the world’s most glamorous hotel suite) and Hollywood A-listers have been known to prowl at large.