Although Claridge’s was a name synonymous with London’s best hotels that hadn’t been our experience on two previous occasions, most notably in 1994 where I booked my then boss a certain Micheal Adam’s (worth a google) into a suite there. It took just a cursory look at the room for him to decide it was not for him and then in his New York style tell all in the hotel lobby who would listen how bad it was. Despite management pleading with him to calm down and offering him the Royal Suite he was having none of it and checked himself into the Four Seasons. On reflection he was right as we discovered a few years later when some friends of ours “booked us in” as a surprise. It was as he had described it “tired and well past its sell by date”.

We didn’t set foot again until most recently when it was my daughter Millie’s 21st in 2020.

It was in the middle of a total make over, during the Covid pandemic and we were some of the first guests in, but it was none the less fantastic and is truly peerless in London today. An intimate bar hidden away in the corner adds to its charm as does the 24-hour attended lift and of course its position ‘A’ for shopping and restaurants.10 out of 10.