Broadwick Soho

Broadwick Soho opened on Berwick Street (Soho’s market street and Vinyl Mile) with a pink door, a leopard-print doorman and interiors by Martin Brudnizki that make no concessions to restraint. The 57-room independent hotel was founded by a group of friends including owner Noel Hayden, whose family hotel in Bournemouth went bankrupt in the 1980s; vintage family photographs from that era hang throughout the building as a quiet tribute. The result is one of the most individual hotels in London: a place with a backstory, a specific point of view and the confidence to commit to both.

The experience

The experience at Broadwick Soho begins at the door with the hotel’s bespoke signature scent, a commission that took two and a half years to develop, announces arrival before anything else. Private check-in, a residents-only lounge, twice-daily housekeeping and a packing and unpacking service set the tone of attentive independent luxury throughout. The 250-plus artworks scattered across the building, including pieces that guests consistently discover on successive visits give the hotel the feel of a well-curated private house. Dear Jackie in the basement serves Italian food that draws non-residents for dinner. Flute, the rooftop bar, operates as a proper destination in its own right, particularly for evening drinks with Soho views.

The rooms

All 57 rooms have bespoke furniture, individually selected artworks, Frette Italian linen with feather and down duvets, Ortigia bath products, Nespresso machines, Dyson hairdryers, minibars stocked with local products and not-so-mini in scope, USB and USB-C charging, and TV with casting and first-run films. Entry-level rooms are around 240 square feet, which is generous relative to many Soho properties, but worth noting at this price point. Balcony Suites step up to private outdoor space. The suites include antique brass elephant cocktail cabinets — a guest favourite that works better than it sounds. Six rooms are adapted for accessibility.

Food and drink

Dear Jackie is a basement Italian restaurant named in tribute to the flamboyant Jackies of pop culture history: Kennedy Onassis, Collins and Stallone are the staff’s most-cited references. Murano glass lights, red silk walls and intimate booths make it one of the better-dressed dining rooms in Soho. The food is straightforward and very good: punchy pasta, well-sourced fish and a pistachio pastry that has earned its own following. Bar Jackie at street level serves breakfast and coffee. Flute, the rooftop bar, is the evening destination.

The neighbourhood

Berwick Street markets have traded on this site for centuries, and the street’s identity as Soho’s vinyl destination — record shops run its full length — gives Broadwick Soho a neighbourhood context that most luxury hotels cannot claim. Liberty London is around the corner. Oxford Circus Underground is five minutes north on the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria lines. Piccadilly Circus is seven minutes south. Carnaby Street, Soho Square and the West End’s theatres are all within easy walking distance.