Kimpton Fitzroy London

Russell Square Gardens has one dominant building on its eastern flank, and this is it. Kimpton Fitzroy London opened in 1900 as the Hotel Russell, designed by Charles Fitzroy Doll, the same architect who drew the first-class dining room on the Titanic. That history shows in the terracotta facade and the marble-heavy lobby, which still gets gasps from people walking in off Russell Square for the first time.

Rooms have been redone in a fairly loud Kimpton house style, jewel-tone velvets, brass fittings, patterned carpets, which sits oddly against the Victorian bones but mostly works. Bathrooms are compact given the grandeur elsewhere; this is a converted 19th-century building, not a purpose-built modern hotel, so do not expect huge walk-in showers throughout. Kimpton’s house policy of a free evening social hour in the lobby, wine and beer poured for guests each afternoon, is a nice touch that softens the otherwise slightly corporate ownership behind the historic facade.

Fitz’s Bar and Parlour does the evening cocktail crowd, all velvet sofas and a mirror ball nodding to the building’s Jazz Age past, while Fitz’s Brasserie handles breakfast and dinner with a solid if not thrilling British-European menu. The breakfast spread is the strongest meal of the day here and consistently gets singled out by guests, with a proper cooked option alongside pastries rather than a thin continental spread. Weekend brunch in the bar draws a mixed crowd of hotel guests and locals, which says something about how the space has settled into the neighbourhood beyond just servicing rooms upstairs.

The location is genuinely excellent for Bloomsbury: the British Museum is a ten-minute walk, Russell Square tube is at the door, and the square gardens opposite give you green space that a lot of central London hotels cannot offer. Service leans towards the attentive end, which is a Kimpton trait across the group.

The catch is price against room size. You are paying substantially for the building and the postcode, and standard rooms can feel snug once a Titanic-era ceiling height competes with a fairly tight footprint. Worth it if the architecture is part of what you are buying; less so if you simply want space.