The Pilgrm Hotel, Paddington

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Trying to find the perfect hotel room for the perfect price in London can be challenging. Soulless budget chains. Boutique rooms the size of a shoebox. 5* gaffs with liveried doormen, where a side plate of lettuce costs £40. But the Pilgrm Hotel in Paddington managed to tick all the right boxes.

The Pilgrm Hotel

It would be easy to walk past The Pilgrm Hotel, and not even realise what lies behind the low-key facade. After all, it just looks like another achingly cool London coffee shop. But ascend the magnificent wooden staircase and you are transported into a rabbit warren of wings leading to rooms of varying sizes.

There are bunk rooms, and small, medium and large rooms. I opted to book a medium-sized room; the queen size bed takes up much of the room but there is ample floor space to avoid having to shove our empty suitcases in the shower. The decor is minimal but stylish, with wood-panelling creating a feature around the bed. There’s also decoration of the leafy variety, which I hope survived my notorious plant-killer reputation.

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The bathroom is small but stylish, with gleaming tiles and an old-fashioned chain flush on the loo. I’m particularly taken by the soap on a rope. There’s not a lot of space for toiletries, but this is a minor annoyance. Mainly when I continually drop my make-up in the sink. And yes, some of the bathroom door is frosted, but privacy is more or less maintained.

There are no beverage-making facilities in the rooms – and after all, top-notch baristas are on hand downstairs for your caffeine fix – but there are small pantries scattered throughout the hotel with hot water dispensers and teabags. No milk though; I’d have liked at least small jugs of milk to be made available (although I’m sure the staff would have obliged had I asked). We are given reusable water bottles on arrival, and there is a water refilling station in the lobby.

The staff are down to earth and welcoming, and patient with my checking and double checking about our flexible check-out. And surely this is one of the big perks – for an additional £30 we added this option to our booking, meaning we could check in from 10am and check out any time til 7pm on our departure day. This essentially gave us another full day in London before our (inevitably cancelled) train home.

Al Fresco Brunch, Coffee and Cocktails

The Pilgrm has the most beautiful leafy lounge bar, perfect for coffee, brunch, a light evening snack or cocktails. But even better is the terrace where you can watch the local coming and goings over an al fresco treat. And the barely-there reception is cleverly disguised as a ground-floor coffee shop.

The cocktails are priced on a par with most London bars – and considerably cheaper than those we imbibed at The Shard. My negroni may have been small, but it was incredibly potent. The bar is only open until 10pm, but if you’re early to bed and early(ish) to rise like we are then it’s perfect for a nightcap.

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Why stay in Paddington?

Conveniently located for underground and overground trains, Paddington Station is also home to the Heathrow Express. There’s quite a lot of building work going on around the station at the moment so be mindful of that; peaceful it is not.

The canal network is a great draw, and there are some great little barges for drinking and dining if you don’t mind a little bobbing up and down now and then. It’s a short walk to Little Venice – which was the end point of our mammoth Regents Canal walk on a previous trip. We never knew that the delights of Paddington lay just beyond.

Kensington Gardens is a pleasant 15 minute stroll, and if you enter at Lancaster Gate, you’ll enter the park near the beautiful Italian Gardens (definitely stop for a gelato from the Italian Gardens Cafe on a sunny day!). Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park are the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of London.

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The verdict?

Laidback, elegant, understated but very cool, The Pilgrm is an excellent and surprisingly affordable boutique hotel option.

The Pilgrm Hotel

25 London Street

Paddington

W2 1HH

Website and bookings

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