Mr & Mrs Smith

The Merchant Hotel

Belfast, United Kingdom

Occupying the former headquarters of the Ulster Bank, The Merchant Hotel is a grand neoclassical building with vaulted ceilings, kitted out in rich colours and fabrics. This boutique creation makes you feel like a VIP from the minute you walk through the door. Bedrooms are opulent and complete with all the modern-day add-ons you can think of. The hotel bar, the Cloth Ear, used to be the bank's customer branch, while the fine restaurant occupies the former banking hall.

Need to know

• Rooms 62, including five suites.
• Rates Double rooms from $208.25 (£133), excluding tax at 20 per cent.
  Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (£133), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
• More details Rates include breakfast.
• Facilities Spa with hydrotherapy pool, steam room and nail bar; gym; rootftop hot tub; boutique; free WiFi; DVD/CD library. In rooms, flatscreen TV, DVD/CD player, King Koil mattresses and Etro toiletries.
• Check-out Midday; later by arrangement and at a charge of £50. Earliest check‑in, 3pm.
• Children Welcome; under‑fours stay free. Cots, baby baths and monitors are available; babysitters are £15 an hour. More...
• Also The hotel can arrange for its chauffeur‑driven Rolls-Royce to pick you up from the airport (City Airport, £45; Belfast International, £80); alternatively, book it for a day’s sightseeing or a picnic outing.

Food and drink at The Merchant Hotel

• Hotel restaurant

  The Great Room Restaurant was once the banking hall of the Ulster Bank, and is perhaps the most resplendent space in this lavish establishment. Chef Tony O’Neill’s menu focuses on local produce, including excellent beef from County Fermanagh and venison from Downpatrick. Take afternoon tea of a weekend and there'll be a piano tinkling along in the background, too.

• Dress code Think informal but glamorous, like Katharine Hepburn-style trousers and polo shirts for a Great Gatsby-style soirée.
• Top table The cosy red booths at the corners of the dining platform in the Great Room are best.
• Last orders Breakfast: 10.30am; lunch: noon–2.30pm; dinner: 6pm–10pm. 12.45am in the bar.
• Room service A full room-service menu (soups, sandwiches, steaks, fish, pasta, desserts and cheeses) is available until 11pm, after which there’s a snack menu of lighter dishes.
• Hotel bar

  The Bar – the hotel's acclaimed drinking den, dotted with plush red chairs and Baccarat‑crystal chandeliers – takes its cocktails seriously. It’s deservedly popular at weekends, but you can also wait for a table in the hotel’s lively Cloth Ear pub, which also serves food, or try the newly refurbished Veuve Clicquot Champagne Lounge. There's also a music venue: Bert's Bar has jazz at its core, with live performances seven nights a week – think 1930s speakeasy with a bistro-style menu.

The Merchant Hotel 16 Skipper Street, Belfast, BT1 2DZ