Pan Pacific London

Pan Pacific opened its first UK hotel in Bishopsgate a few years back and it has settled into the City skyline with more calm than the address suggests. Step off Houndsditch, a genuinely unglamorous stretch of road, and the noise drops away almost immediately once the doors close behind you.

The hotel occupies the lower floors of a 21st-century tower, so rooms are generous by City standards, with proper floor-to-ceiling windows rather than the pokey Victorian conversions you get elsewhere in this part of London. The wellness floor is a genuine differentiator: an 18.5-metre infinity pool and a heavily tech-equipped gym that would not look out of place in a members’ club. Interiors throughout lean quietly luxurious rather than showy, muted tones and good materials rather than logo-heavy branding, which suits guests who want a five-star stay without a five-star amount of visual noise.

Straits Kitchen, the in-house restaurant, does Singaporean-leaning food across an all-day menu and hosts a daily afternoon tea between midday and 4pm that has become a bit of a draw in its own right, distinct from the usual scones-and-sandwiches format most London hotels run. It holds two AA rosettes, which is a genuine marker of quality rather than hotel-restaurant box-ticking. Laksa and satay both turn up on the menu done properly rather than watered down for a Western palate, and the kitchen clearly has a point of view rather than defaulting to generic international hotel fare.

Staff here are consistently praised for going beyond the transactional, remembering names and preferences rather than reciting a script, and the hotel has held Forbes Travel Guide five-star status for several years running. The lobby bar is worth a mention too, a genuinely calm spot for a drink that manages to avoid the slightly sterile feel some new-build hotel bars fall into.

The honest caveat is location: Bishopsgate is convenient for Liverpool Street and the City’s business district, but it empties out in the evenings and at weekends, so anyone wanting a lively neighbourhood on the doorstep should look elsewhere. This is a hotel for people who want quiet efficiency over buzz, and it suits a business trip or a short City stay considerably better than a leisurely weekend break where a lively neighbourhood matters.