Two landmark buildings and two of the dearer rooms in the edit, wanting completely different weekends from you. Claridge's if you want Mayfair, the art deco and a spa three floors below the lobby, The Ned if you would rather sleep above a listed banking hall with seven restaurants in it and take the City's quiet weekends.
The grand oneMayfair's art deco grand hotel, and since 2022 it has a seven-treatment-room spa and pool three floors below the lobby.
€€€€From about £750 a night
Choose Claridge's if
The catch
No Michelin star in the house in the 2026 guide, and the dining room has changed hands twice since 2021.
The iconLutyens's Midland Bank, reopened as 250 bedrooms above a ground floor that now holds seven restaurants, with the best of it kept for members.
€€€From about £433 a night
Choose The Ned if
The catch
The rooftop pool and its terraces belong to Ned's Club members and their guests. The only guest access the hotel publishes is 7am to 10am, for children.
Claridge'sThe Ned
Claridge's
The Ned
The verdict
Two landmark buildings and two of the dearer rooms in the edit, wanting completely different weekends from you. Claridge's if you want Mayfair, the art deco and a spa three floors below the lobby, The Ned if you would rather sleep above a listed banking hall with seven restaurants in it and take the City's quiet weekends.
Questions people ask
Two landmark buildings and two of the dearer rooms in the edit, wanting completely different weekends from you. Claridge's if you want Mayfair, the art deco and a spa three floors below the lobby, The Ned if you would rather sleep above a listed banking hall with seven restaurants in it and take the City's quiet weekends.
Claridge's is the London grand hotel that fixed its one real gap, and the spa is now as good a reason to book as the Foyer. Go for the building and the service, and plan your dinners elsewhere. A famous classic in the middle of Mayfair, run on service, priced accordingly and photographed constantly. The draw is the original art deco and the spa underneath it, not privacy and not the restaurant.
It has an indoor pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
Book it for the building and for the fact that seven kitchens sit between your bed and the street. Book direct so the pool and the gym come with the room, and treat the rooftop as somebody else's club. A loud, public, restaurant-led hotel inside a Grade I listed bank, two minutes from Bank station and squarely in the middle of the City. The bedrooms are the quiet part and the ground floor is the point, so expect to eat in and expect company while you do it.
It has indoor and outdoor pools. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.