As I walk through Pimlico, it appears to be a neighbourhood of overpriced B&Bs and never-as-cheap-as-you’d-hoped budget hotel chains. The garish signs jar with the Regency architecture. I know these places: small rooms, standard breakfasts, minimal attention. They serve a function, nothing more.
When I arrive at my hotel, it immediately stands out for its grander facade, smart red-and-white awnings and – most obviously – its name: Artist Residence. Opened in September 2014, this is the third hotel of that name: the others are in Brighton and Penzance. The building was originally designed by Thomas Cubitt, who built a lot of the finest houses in Pimlico and nearby Belgravia, and its ground floor was for many years a pub, the Clarendon.
The name of the chain reflects the aesthetic of the hotel’s owners, Justin Salisbury, 27, and Charlotte Newey, 28. The Brighton venture was co-designed with artists, and the couple know what they like. Their hotels are galleries for a diverse range of urban, graphic and street artists including Pure Evil, Dan Hillier, Connor Brothers, Tammy Mackay and Dan Baldwin.
As soon as I’m through the door, I’m surrounded by style: pared-down decor, shiny plain paintwork, all that art on the walls. Instead of a lobby, there’s a tiny desk, a warm welcome, and convivial noise somewhere offstage: much of the ground floor is taken up by an already busy restaurant, which I’ll check out later.
My room, at the top of the building, is called the Loft. Its ceilings are higher than I expected, and it’s a triumph of rescued and repurposed furniture. There’s a hand-crafted “gate” bed by US lifestyle brand Anthropologie, tea chests for bedside tables, old-school anglepoise lights, an antler chandelier by Ines Cole, and a fabulous vintage metal locker serving as a wardrobe. Distressed-wood surfaces are played off against a gleaming Smeg fridge and an espresso machine, and there are green mohair armchairs for sitting in while enjoying the coffee. I like the look but wouldn’t want to characterise it as generic shabby chic; there’s real craft and creativity on display, and the whole arrangement just works.
The other bedrooms are all genuinely different from one another – too often in hotels you’re merely told that they are – and even the smallest have stylish touches and original art.
Before dinner I go down to the basement and 64 Below, a New York-inspired cocktail bar with exposed brick walls, tin ceiling tiles, red leather bar stools and low lighting. Max Curzon-Price, the 22-year-old barman, has the gift of the gab and is an obsessive researcher of vermouths, botanicals, bourbons and general chemistry. He’ll go far: his superb bespoke drinks come with a Prohibition-era story or insights about the properties of wormwood.
Dinner is at 64 Degrees, created by chef Michael Bremner – the name alludes to the optimum temperature for sous-vide cuisine, which is practised here. I sit at the bar beside the open kitchen. Tonight’s head chef Josh Kitson (he’s the sous at the Brighton hotel) calmly manages his large team, producing small, well-balanced tapas of chicken wings and kimchi, mackerel and Waldorf ceviche, partridge and pear, and an excellent chocolate spread to finish.
Afterwards, I take a walk down to the river. It’s a cold, star-spangled night. Away from the grander mansions, Pimlico is unprepossessing: office blocks, estate-style flats used by politicians and other undesirables, lots of taxis, not many bus stops. But the Thames is there, open to the sky, and Battersea power station hasn’t yet been fully developed into oblivion.
I get a good, ghost-quiet night’s sleep. Breakfast is a perfectly executed eggs royale (with smoked salmon, £10), Owlet apple juice (£2.50) and espresso (£1.50).
Artist Residence breaks quite a few rules – and they needed breaking. This is an intelligent, coolly designed alternative to what’s currently on offer in the area (and in London generally) and offers far better value, and much more fun, than any of its neighbours.
• Accommodation was provided by Artist Residence, 52 Cambridge Street, London SW1, 020-7931 8946, artistresidencelondon.co.uk; doubles from £150, breakfast extra
Ask a local
Christopher Howe, owner of interior design and antiques store Howe London
• Best coffee
Tomtom, on Elizabeth Street, is an anti-chain coffee shop. Tom has his own roaster and makes toasties to order downstairs while you perch on a school stool or relax around a communal Georgian table which he dragged in from home.
• Best public space
The triangle known as Orange Square had nothing more than two or three red telephone boxes and a bench when I first moved here 30 years ago; now it has a thriving farmers’ market and is the centre of the local community on a Saturday morning.
• Best garden
Walk west along the river, past the Royal Hospital, and find an oasis of peace in the amazingly beautiful, historic Chelsea Physic Garden.
