Malmaison London

Somehow it took the Malmaison chain ten years to make it this far south. While the boutique revolution was taking London by storm, Malmaison was fighting the battle on the northern front, from Edinburgh on down. Of course ten years ago Clerkenwell, the newly fashionable neighborhood the London Malmaison calls home, was hardly on the map — it was still a district of neglected warehouses and disused printing presses. Today Clerkenwell is overrun with advertising executives, photographers, and other creative types, and the district, along with nearby Shoreditch and Farringdon, is as hip as can be.

Thus it’s the perfect spot for a hotel like this; though largely hewing to the Malmaison family look (dusky and vaguely French), this is a hotel with some character, from the high-backed black armchairs in the lobby to the wrought-iron staircase leading to the underground brasserie. The building, a one-time nurses’ dormitory behind a red brick Victorian facade, faces Charterhouse Square, one of London’s historic mini-parks, with a private garden at the center — and the Malmaison benefits not just from the view but from the quiet as well. Guest rooms are cut from the same mold as those in all the other Mals, but it’s a more appealing template than the facile white-on-white one that has seen so much use in would-be hip hotels.

High-speed internet access is a plus, as is the location, equally convenient to the financial and creative districts. Rates are a bit lower than average, at least in this most competitive of hotel markets, and it’s not clear how they have kept prices within reason, as they certainly haven’t been stingy on service and staffing or cut corners on construction and décor. This hotel won’t necessarily rock your world — it comes ten years too late for that — but it’s a more than worthy addition, and handily earns its place in an already crowded landscape.

• 97 Rooms
• Style: Modern Design
• Atmosphere: Lively
• 9 Guest Reviews

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