06/11/2021
When a person is tired of London, are they really tired of life? Or do they just need a minibreak in a different town?
Literary types will love it here. Each of the 192 rooms is filled with stacks of books and there are more in the elegant wood-panelled library — Alan Bennett’s reading of The Wind in the Willows is even piped in to the bathrooms. This is Cambridge, after all. Once a 19th-century coaching inn, the hotel was rebooted in 2018 by classical architect John Simpson (his CV includes Buckingham Palace) and London nightlife interiors whizz Martin Brudnizki. The result is a luxe blend of trad and modern. One minute you’re admiring the grand porte-cochère out front, the next you’re enveloped in the warm buzz of chic brasserie Parkers Tavern, headed by Pétrus and Le Gavroche alumnus Tristan Welch. More good news: the breakfast buffet is back, and more epic than ever. Rooms from £159 per night.
Written by Jessica Benjamin and Kerry Potter