If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (GBP412.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Get ready to flutter those fans coquettishly, because Henry’s Townhouse, a restored Regency darling in charming Marylebone, is as dashing as a Darcy, albeit less brooding – very well-tempered in fact, thanks to the friendliness of house manager Ann, who’s impeccably poised to help you enhance your stay. Once owned by Jane Austen’s brother Henry, and given some modern refinement by a hotelier power couple, it has many possessions of good fortune (four-poster beds, gilt-framed original artworks, velvet and silk swaggery). But – especially if you book the whole house – it’s also a place for pyjama parties, intimate dinners and (carefully) cosying up with one of the first editions on display and a glass of English wine. A very pleasing prospect, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
One of the hotel’s handmade candles (each with a cameo of Jane Austen’s relatives and a signature scent)
Six, including two suites, or the house can be hired in its entirety.
Check–Out
10.30am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £495.00, including tax at 20 per cent.
More details
Rates include a fulsome breakfast feast of artisan breads, Gail’s pastries and jams; British charcuterie and cheese platters; granola; yoghurts; Press smoothies; Fire & Flow coffee. And, minibar goodies and an evening apéritif are free.
Also
There are all the trappings of Georgian interior tranquillity here: a reading room, snug styled like a vintage train carriage (with a drinks cabinet), a drawing room with tented sofas, velvets, a sound-system and concealed TV, and – a London rarity – a terrace for taking cocktails or simply enjoying the sunshine.
At the hotel
House manager, terrace, pantry, snug, reading room, charged laundry service. In rooms: flatscreen TV, free WiFi, writing desk, minibar with luxury British products, Nespresso coffee machine, Prince & Sons teas, air-conditioning, selection of chic magazines, Dyson hairdryer, bathrobes, La Bruket bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Each of the six rooms are named after a member of the Austen family, and tell different stories through colourways, portraiture, antiques and tactile fabrics. The stay’s not trapped in time though, TVs pop out from cabinetry or rise from the foot of the bed, and there are Nespresso machines and phones to summon the house manager. So, whose life will you step into? Perhaps Jane’s sister Cassandra’s, whose duck-egg blue room has a sparkling chandelier and dramatic padded headboard. Or James (a clergyman), whose studio-style suite has a four-poster, fireplace and chessboard. Phylly has perhaps the longest mattress in London at seven foot; but our favourite room might be the Eliza (Jane’s larger-than-life sister-in-law). This boudoir has mother-of-pearl tiling behind a bath tub housed in theatrically tented silk canvas; there’s a Chinoiserie writing desk, frilled four-poster, chaise-longue and glittering and gilded things – ideal for romantics or blushing brides-to-be.
Spa
Squeezing a spa into a Grade-II-listed Georgian townhouse was a bit of an ask, but guests can get preferential rates at a gym and Pilates studio just a few minutes’ walk away. Request when booking.
Packing tips
Bring some era-appropriate literature to immerse yourself in the surrounds – the first-edition Austens in the snug feel far too precious to flip through (even if you’re allowed). And, maybe throw in some Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes’ ‘residence’ at 221B Baker Street is close by.
Also
You get a ceramic-bisque, cameo-emblazoned candle as your Smith Extra, but if you gotta catch all the Austens there’s six varieties. And you’ll notice miniature portraits hanging from your keys as well.
Children
Booked exclusively and with older children (there are many stairs, and this is a time-bomb of antiques, first editions and delicate fabrics), this is a wonderful family city escape. The team can arrange pretty much anything for you too.
Sustainability efforts
The townhouse was in a much sorrier state when owners Steven Collins (director of Chelsea Harbour Estate) and Jane Collins (owner of cult Sixty 6 boutique) – who also both oversee Temple Guiting Manor hideaway in the Cotswolds – first discovered it. Alongside Brit designer Russell Sage and architects Feix & Merlin, they set about writing a new chapter for it, rescuing wood-panelling, joinery, secret jib doors (camouflaged in the walls) and cornicing, and furnishing it with the grandeur Henry and his socialite wife would expect, but through a modern perspective, mish-mashing eras and styles. And, in addition to conserving this piece of history, the hotel is concerned with locality – its fridge and snug bar are filled with best-of-British wines and spirits, and the generous breakfast spread is made using goodies mostly from Marylebone.
The pantry’s refectory table is one around which gossip can smoothly travel or brooding suitors can smoulder across.
Dress Code
There’s no need to dress up, but if you do want to try some Austen-esque cosplaying, rather than looking like you’ve seductively emerged from a lake, think Bridgerton’s idiosyncratic Regency with a little raunch style. Or exclusive-users just need PJs.
Hotel restaurant
Henry’s socialite wife Eliza insisted that they have a French chef, and so Monsieur Halavant arrived, cooked and conquered it would seem, because he’s honoured today in the naming of the hotel’s pantry. A discrete space styled for swapping scandalising intimations and mischievous mealtimes (or a laid-back family gathering). It’s painted in a soothing sage hue, with bespoke cabinetry, panels of antique blue-and-white Delft tiles (which took the owners two years to hunt down), an Aga tucked into a London Stone niche and a refectory table that seats up to 14. Breakfast (with yummy bits from Gail’s, Daylesford, Press, Fire & Flow and other London delis) is eventfully laid out here each morning. And, should you wish to stay in of an eve, ask for Ann to flip through her digital rolodex of chefs who can prepare anything from a pizza night, say, to a tasting menu with many chapters. The room can be configured to its cosiest form to your tastes. Come afternoon, put your pinkies up for high tea in the drawing room and retire to the reading snug or terrace before dinner for apéritifs and canapés.
Hotel bar
In keeping with its classically British feel, the hotel’s fridge and drinks cabinet are stocked with the finest of spirits and wines from across the country. So take a tipple of Cotswolds gin, Somerset cider brandy, or something sparkling from the likes of Hambledon Vineyard.
Last orders
Breakfast is tentatively 7am to 10am, but the team can work around your lie-in on request.
Room service
If you’ve over-excited yourself and need to rest until you’re in better humours, you can take Continental breakfast in bed.
Henry’s Townhouse sits in a row of handsome Georgian residences on Upper Berkeley Street in Marylebone – a charming London enclave between Hyde and Regent’s parks.
Planes
Of the major London airports, Heathrow and London City are the closest, both just under an hour’s drive away; Luton and Stansted are just over an hour’s drive and Gatwick is two hours away. The hotel can arrange car or minibus transfers on request and for an extra charge.
Trains
Hop on the Heathrow Express direct to Paddington and Edgware Road, a 15-minute walk from the hotel, is one stop away. The Gatwick Express pulls into Victoria, from which you can ride the Victoria line to Oxford Circus and swap to the Central line to Marble Arch, just a five-minute walk from the townhouse. A tangle of underground lines at your service means you can easily zip across all quarters of the city.
Automobiles
London may be a sprawl, and it’s the done thing to grumble about public transport, but there’s really no need to drive (that complaint you heard about the Tube was likely a two-minute delay). Parking is a struggle and traffic snarls in the centre, so a set of wheels might actually slow you down; however, if you do bring a car, there are two charged NCP car parks (one in Marble Arch, the other in Portman Square), both within five minutes away on foot.
Worth getting out of bed for
Marylebone might be surrounded by enormously popular parks and London’s most buzzy neighbourhoods – ritzy Mayfair, dizzy-with-foot-traffic Soho – plus lies close to one of London’s most queued-for attractions (the loved and hated Madame Tussauds), but it’s retained its village-y feel, with picturesque streets, indie boutiques and enough foodie hotspots to warrant a dedicated tour. To start, go on a local shopping spree, kicking off at Sixty 6 (17 Bulstrode Street), a den of craveable fashion and jewellery that’s become a cult favourite since it opened in 1997 (also, it’s run by the townhouse’s co-owner Jane Collins, so it’d be rude not to pop your head in). Then waft along Daunt Books’ beautiful wooden Edwardian galleries, picking up some holiday reading; find floaty floral wares at Wyse; gather colourful Italian soaps at Ortigia; then follow your nose into Trudon, which has been producing fine candles since the 17th century. And, speaking of heavily scented things, La Fromagerie is a delightfully fragrant emporium with its own cheese library for tastings. It’s one stop on a food tour that takes you through Japanese knife-skill demos, Arabic treats and Italian aperitivos. Each Sunday, Marylebone Farmers’ Market gives you a fine selection of picnic picks (weather allowing). There’s edifying culture too, with the Wallace Collection’s abundance of art, furnishings and curios; concerts at Wigmore Hall; and melodious happenings at the Royal Academy of Music.
In nearby Mayfair, there’s mystery afoot at 50 Berkeley Square, a townhouse rumoured to be London’s most haunted, and at 221B Baker Street, mysteries are well and truly solved at the Sherlock Holmes Museum. And, you can easily kill an afternoon in Hyde Park, seeing who’s ranting at Speaker’s Corner, pedalo-ing around the Serpentine Lake and musing over the changeable shows in the Serpentine Galleries.
Local restaurants
There’s a reason why the townhouse focuses a lot of its energy on breakfast – while they can put together an elegant dinner or call on a chef, Marylebone has more eateries than you can shake a fork lustily at, panning global flavours and all dining genres. There’s your ‘need no introduction’ eateries: Nobu at Portman Square (hello, miso cod), the Chiltern Firehouse (hello, crab doughnuts), starry Italian Locanda Locatelli (hello, all the pasta), and fine Indian coastal fare at Trishna (oh hey, perfectly prepared seafood). Just around the corner, there’s Basque jamóns, gildas, croquetas, crab with caviar and inky arroz at Donostia; and Orrery has an elegant Gallic menu, with a caramelised onion and tomato tart with basil sorbet, cod in dill beurre blanc, and elderflower and strawberry panna cotta with champagne jelly. The Grazing Goat is an easygoing gastropub with dishes that elevate the concept: gin-cured trout with pickled watermelon and labneh, a meat-laden grill (Sugar Pit bacon chops, Angus flat iron, porterhouse), and peach and almond crumble cake with custard. While Pachamama has a garrulous approach to ingredients – the louder the better – serving crab and yucca churros dipped in sumac sugar; scallop tiradito tossed with tiger’s milk, mango, elderflower and coconut; herby Ibérico pork with minty crème fraîche; and fried aubergine topped with smoked yoghurt and pecans.
Local cafés
Monocle Café, a spin-off of Monocle magazine, stands out with its black-and-white-striped awning. As you flip through its namesake, you can nibble on Japanese, Swedish and Brit light eats (bento boxes, generously topped crispbreads, sandos, bagels, Swedish buns), and sip a yuzu iced tea. Austrian Fischer’s brings the brunch crowd in for röstis with various eggy, saucy toppings, girthy würst and open rye sandwiches; while ‘no borders’ kitchen Jikoni, with its blush-pink frontage and intricately patterned cushions, has many passport stamps, dishing up prawn-toast Scotch eggs with banana ketchup, crispy aubergine glazed with Szechuan caramel atop garlicky rice, and paan madeleines with chai. Vegans are well looked after here too.
Local bars
Start your night at Seymour’s Parlour, a space not unlike the hotel (after all, they share the same designer), with its opulent decor and vintage air, where the cocktails take on a mad-scientist feel. Try the Okra Martini (with okra-infused vermouth, gin and pickled okra to garnish); or the Carob Old Fashioned (with rum, cocoa butter, carob bitters and dandelion root). Continue at the Salt Whisky Bar & Dining Room, a curious combination of Indian restaurant and whisky cabinet with more than 200 bottles, within stumbling distance of your stay. Then enter the hushed low-lit space of early adopter (née 2010) speakeasy spot Purl, where jazz plays, cocktails emit smoky clouds or froth with foamy tops, and the barkeeps wear braces.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this well-connected historic homestead in Marylebone, left their calling card and unpacked their well-thumbed copy of Pride and Prejudice, their witty musings on a most enjoyable stay will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Henry’s Townhouse in central London…
One imagines that being the brother of Jane Austen might give one an inferiority complex. Take Henry, her oldest and dearest sibling, whose military, clerical and financial career pales behind him being largely responsible for her books’ publication and taking on the role of her memoirist after her death. But, he’s about to get his turn in the spotlight – well, his very, very nice house is anyways – as an exquisite new hideaway in Marylebone. Henry’s Townhouse expands on the Austen world, with six ready-for-the-ball bedrooms, each named after a family member, plus the kind of gathering places (a snug, reading room, rare-for-London leafy terrace) where ladies might gather for gossipy convos or men might retire to talk about man things back in the day. However, over the years, the stay has gathered momentum rather than dust, any original parts were gently restored where possible and there’s certainly an air of Georgiana in thick and strokable fabrics all around, hefty four-posters, theatrically tented sofas, chandeliers, chaise-longues and Chinoiserie – but also era-skimming portraiture from the owners’ collection, bang-up-to-date comforts, and a modern feel thanks to designer Russell Sage. All of which makes it diverting indeed to run around as if it’s your own, with very obliging house manager Ann there to keep the fun flowing, especially if you’ve rented out the whole place. Jane may be the OG (and is present in portraiture and some first editions), but Henry – when it comes to refined hideaways, you’re our guy.
