Detailed Review
You need to think squarely about it. Malmaison London is situated in Charterhouse Square, on the sharper edge of the Square Mile, a short taxi ride from the tourist hotspots and one of the world’s leading financial markets.
Already the favourite escape for the seasoned retail therapist, corporate city types and hellbent weekend pleasure seekers, the London Mal is furnished with an absolutely essential Veuve Cliquot Champagne bar, subterranean bar and brasserie. Add to that 2 meeting rooms equipped with all the hi-tech gadgetry, two private dining opportunities and one of our trademark rock’n’roll suites, our London hotel more than capably squares up with the big boys.
Press Quotes
"...an elegant location on Charterhouse Square close to the Barbican and a good basement bar and restaurant." The Guardian 07
Independent Reviews
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"Quintessentially London, the handsome building overlooks a luscious garden square in Clerkenwell, set back from the busy city."
Malmaison London
By Angela Moore
Malmaison London scores points for location: a handsome red brick building lucky enough to overlook a garden square instead of the usual busy city street. Walk in through the big glass there are showy velvet sofas, extravagant arrangements of orchids and a bank of clean-cut, black-suited reception staff. It’s immediately and comfortingly Malmaison: efficient without being clinical, colourful but not flamboyant, functional but stylish.
Downstairs there’s a smart contemporary basement bar and brasserie, flooded with natural light from huge skylights. A raised section of the room can be closed off with glass doors and curtains to provide a wonderful private dining room. Cocktails are served at moodily lit, high-backed black leather banquettes. Behind one large glass wall is the cellar: all the Malmaisons pride themselves on taking food and drink very seriously, as the wine list here will testify.
The rooms
All rooms here are remarkably spacious for London, from the warehouse-sized lobby to a standard double that you could turn cartwheels in. Superior doubles are even bigger; they all face over the square and all have proper double beds, instead of boring ziplock twins. Other than that, there’s no difference between the two, with standard amenities in all rooms.
The rooms are definitely built for comfort – they are detailed and well planned. Colours are muted, with the occasional lavish splash – bordello red in a wall recess, a velvet chaise-longues; lighting is clever. Beds have Frette linen and smart patterned velvet headboards that extend halfway up the walls. Bathrooms are compact but well laid-out and with separate walk-in showers; everything that you could need is to hand.
This is a hotel to keep just about everyone happy, and indeed it attracts all kinds: businessmen, the occasional well-heeled reveller or famous DJing face from the two big London nightclubs that are a cab ride away, tourists who have stumbled out of the West End and onto a good thing.
The verdict
An under-rated option for this area of London.
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