Brook Green may not be the first corner of London most people check when they’re booking a hotel, but there’s a good reason this area has been popular with visitors to the capital since the 19th century.
And while the coaching inn on the western end of the green is still welcoming guests today, it’s had a rather more modern facelift from its origins in 1886, after a refurbishment earlier this year.
Today, the retro touches are more Mad Men than Victorian, with dial phones, vintage map prints and mid-century mustards and teals in the rooms. The beds are thoroughly modern, thankfully, as is the free WiFi, Sky TV, laptop sized safe and rainhead shower, even if we had some trouble linking the room’s speakers to a smartphone.
The feature rooms are easily the most spectacular way to check in to one of the 17 rooms, but each has its own understated boutique touches – window seats in our double, framed stamp prints in others.
The period mix continues downstairs, with the restaurant’s mirrors and Art Deco style lights adding a touch of 20s Paris, helped along by speakeasy-style bar, Smith’s, tucked away downstairs with cocktails featuring locally distilled Sipsmith gin.
The musical note decor in the restaurant means former local resident Gustav Holst, composer of the Brook Green Suite, should still feel at home even if these days the menu features Cornish hake with saffron puree and vegetarian green burger alongside more traditional fish and chips, while caramel apple pie comes with an sweetly tart apple sorbet. Breakfast’s chocolate hazelnut waffles and smashed avocado with poached egg felt distinctly 21st century too.
And if the historic regulars might miss the inn’s reputation for live performances, Shepherd’s Bush and Westfield are both only a short walk off, not to mention the bright lights of the West End half a dozen stops away on the tube.
Because some things never change: a good location, great food and plenty of style is something my Victorian counterparts and I can definitely agree on.
