The Academy

The Academy occupies five Georgian townhouses on Gower Street, combined into one 50-bedroom hotel in the middle of Bloomsbury. It is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. A refurbishment by YTL Hotels, overseen by the New York designer Alexandra Champalimaud, mixes modern and vintage pieces with references to the Bloomsbury Set, who lived and worked in these streets in the early twentieth century.

The ground floor holds the Alchemy Bar, a small room of green velvet banquettes, palm-print walls and bookcases that opens onto a glazed conservatory. Behind the houses sits a walled courtyard garden where afternoon tea is served, and The Library is kept as a quiet reading room with a monthly book club.

For private events the hotel offers The Genius Lab, suited to small meetings and drinks receptions with cocktails and canapés, alongside The Library and The Refectory, which combines with The Genius Lab for larger dinners. The entire hotel, all 50 bedrooms and its public rooms, can also be taken for exclusive use.