The Wellesley Hotel

11 Knightsbridge, London

The smallest of SW1’s five-stars at Hyde Park Corner, rooms here fall midway between Hollywood’s golden age and the master cabin of a Transatlantic liner. Leather upholstery, smooth as calf-skin, in beige or taupe, shows off their sharp-edged designs.

Once upon a time, the building housed Pizza On The Park – next to Ronnie Scott’s, the best place in town for modern jazz. That tradition survives in the Wellesley’s Jazz Lounge. On weekends, it fills for piano bar performances alla Diana Krall that blend with osterie meals from chef Michele del Monaco’s kitchen. MR. Doubles from £345, thewellesley.co.uk