The Kensington

The Kensington occupies four Grade II listed Victorian townhouses on Queen's Gate, a short walk from the Royal Albert Hall and the V&A. It is one of three Doyle Collection hotels in London, the Irish family-run group known for treating its ground floors like a private house rather than a hotel lobby: open fires, garden-square views and a deliberately un-corporate feel throughout.

Town House, the restaurant, spans three interconnecting drawing rooms reached through their own entrance on Manson Place. It seats 40 for dinner and takes 50 for a standing reception, bookable as one room or the full suite. Next door, The Study is a wood-panelled space that doubles as a boardroom by day and a private dining room by night, holding 20 seated or 30 standing.

K Bar, styled after a traditional gentleman's club with leather wingbacks and a well-stocked back bar, and the Drawing Room, where afternoon tea runs daily, complete the ground floor. The kitchen serves modern British food under the hotel's executive chef; events are handled directly through the hotel's own team.