The Culpeper Hotel

40 Commercial St, London

As any local will tell you, a spacious roof terrace in London is as rare as finding a house in Zones one to three with off-street parking. However, head to The Culpeper this June and you’re in for a pleasant surprise. Despite its location on Commercial Road in the heart of east London, its roomy rooftop has been converted into an urban kitchen garden with tomato vines, vegetable beds and planters filled with fragrant herbs. It’s an ideal spot for sipping a pre-dinner cocktail from the Garden Bar while admiring the city’s most iconic skyscrapers, which seem almost within touching distance.

The Culpeper is one of the more stylish conversions of a London pub we’ve come across. For a lively atmosphere and gourmet pub classics such as beef cheek pudding the ground floor’s your best bet, although we prefer the restaurant which is a little more formal.

The menu changes daily and is pleasingly small, just three options for each course. We enjoyed mackerel sashimi and beautifully rare lamb sirloin with an unusual but delicious mint and anchovy salad.
Its five bedrooms are super cool. In East London ‘industrial chic’ comes as standard, but original fireplaces, interesting light fittings and carefully curated art elevates these to something special. IL. Doubles from £120.