Kettner's

"How Soho can absorb one more hotel defies belief, but Kettner’s, in Nick Jones’s signature fashion, feels like it has been there from the start. The property dates to 1867, and if you believe the rumors, it was once owned by the chef to Napoleon III. Most recently, it has been restored to all its Georgian glamour. The hotel restaurant is straight out of Paris with mirrored walls, elaborately sculpted cornices, and lavishly upholstered seats. The champagne bar feels like an old-world lounge with an original mosaic floor, sink-into armchairs, and horseshoe-shaped marble bar. Each of the thirty-three bedrooms is a hybrid of an English country manor and a 1920s boudoir. The sofas are clad in rich buttery velvet, the wallpaper is vintage, and the sheets Egyptian cotton. Thoughtful touches like deep tubs and Cowshed products in the Georgian-style bathrooms, Roberts radios, and proper alarm clocks make it feel more like the home of an incredibly chic friend than a hotel. Go big and book into the Jacobean suite for a dose of period grandeur—wood-paneled walls, a bed the size of a small ship, a freestanding copper tub, and your own entrance. "

"For drinks, London's Soho House location Kettner's Townhouse has a snazzy-yet-chill champagne bar that serves up a variety of bubbling drinks until early morning hours."

"Opened in 1867 by Auguste Kettner — chef to Napoleon III — Kettner’s has attracted the likes of Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie and Bing Crosby over the years. It has changed hands and guises in drastic fashion in its life time — including a period as a Pizza Express — most recently relaunching under the direction of the Soho House group. Despite the questionable nature of a venue that proclaims to be “all about affordable glamour” (Nick Jones, ladies and gentlemen), many listed features, including the mosaic floor in the champagne bar, have been restored tastefully. If history is anything to go by, Kettner’s will long outlast this latest incarnation too, so those of the Jay Rayner persuasion need not fret. Sadly, only the Champagne Bar remains open to the public." - Tom Ford

"The London institution founded in 1867 is now under the control of the all powerful and omnipresent Soho House group - a.k.a. the members’ club answer to Pret. World domination jokes aside, the restoration job on this restaurant, hotel and bar combo is really something. It’s the sort of place we’d take someone who didn’t know us at all and could therefore be fooled into thinking we drink champagne by candlelight on a daily basis. As with everything this lot do, it looks fabulous honey, and the couple next to you will be saying/thinking/texting the same thing. Food-wise it’s all a bit meh though. Zédel already owns the mid-to-average brasserie tag in these parts, unfortunately for Kettner’s. Come for the bar, not the bouillabaisse." - Jake Missing