King Street Townhouse

Rates from (ex tax)$139.27

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Style

Mancunian mille-feuille

Setting

A glance from the Town Hall

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Manchester dances to its own beat around King Street Townhouse’s smack-bang-in-the-middle Booth Street location: Spinningfields’ bars, the Northern Quarter’s vintage boutiques, and grand museums and galleries lie close by. From the sixth-floor bar terrace and rooftop pool, the Town Hall bell tower is the centrepiece of a Harry Potter-esque panorama of neo-Gothic spires. Indoors, genteel mod-British interiors, his and hers afternoon teas and a chandelier-lit tavern create a restful stay for those who want to chase pâtisserie and pastel-hued rooms with Haçienda-style partying.

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Facilities

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Need to know

Rooms

40, including three Luxe Junior Suites and two Suites.

Check–Out

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Guests can stash their luggage in the room behind reception.

Rates

Double rooms from $139.27 (£105), excluding tax at 20 per cent.

More details

The room rate doesn’t include breakfast (from £18 a person for a Continental buffet).

Also

The hotel wears Manc pride on its crisply laundered sleeve: pieces by local artists (Adam Gilbertson, Michelle Topping) depict local legends (the Haçienda nightclub, Madchester album covers, dainty etchings of neighbouring buildings), and honeycomb floor tiles throughout nod to the city’s heraldic emblem, the worker bee. In rooms, we like the minibar’s flower-embossed champagne flutes and hangover kit (an energy shot, and Alka-Seltzer, Berocca and Drinkwel tablets).

At the hotel

Lounge, tea room, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: flatscreen LCD TV with Sky channels, Roberts DAB radio, selection of vintage books, coffee machine and kettle with teas, minibar, fresh milk and Temple Spa toiletries. The two suites have a small chess set too.

Our favourite rooms

The Great Abel One-Bedroom Suite (named after the Town Hall’s bell) is trimmed in teal velvet, has full-wall views of the cityscape from the sitting room and bedroom, and there’s a freestanding bath tub by the window – don’t be shy, the night-time views are very soothing. There’s a secretive Snug hidden in between the two One-Bedroom Suites, which enjoys top-floor views at a more modest price. Wherever you lay your head, it’ll be in a super-soft bed.

Poolside

The hotel’s infinity pool on the seventh floor has panoramic views of the city’s best side, including the clock tower and the spires of Manchester Town Hall. We dare you not to fall in love a little…

Packing tips

Load up your iPod with the Smiths, Joy Division, Happy Mondays and Oasis for retro in-room listening.

Also

There’s a lift to all floors and most common areas are wheelchair accessible. Rooms are fairly sizeable, but guests with mobility problems will find that the Comfy rooms and up are best suited.

Children

Children can stay, but this hotel’s better suited to grown-ups.

Food and Drink

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Top Table

Want to be seen? Pick the waltzer close to the bar. If you’re feeling incognito ask to dine in the mezzanine lounge, where you can spy on the comings and goings below.

Dress Code

Pick a pretty pattern to match the hotel’s bold prints. Come evening, add some sparkle. Leave your maracas, parkas and bucket hats at home.

Hotel restaurant

The Tavern brasserie – lined with cherry-red banquettes, with a flock of chandeliers – is a vivacious old-school eatery. There’s no nouveau frippery on the hearty Brit menu (with a dash of Gallic charm) offering a comfortingly creamy fish pie, bruiser steaks and cheeseburgers. There’s a lighter selection of tartines, and a daily special (lightly battered fish and chips or buttermilk macaroni cheese). Pair with the menu’s multitude of wines, including an on-request reserve list.

Hotel bar

The bar – lined with Perrier-Jouët bottles and real-ale taps – is screened off from the restaurant by wooden panels. There are a few barstools to pull up, but the mezzanine lounge is a much cosier spot to sip and socialise in, with plump sofas and welcoming pairs of wingbacks.

Last orders

Breakfast is served 7am–10.30am Monday to Friday, 8am–12 noon on weekends. Cake stands come out from 12 noon–4pm for afternoon tea, and the Tavern serves hearty fare from 12 noon till late.

Room service

A tray can be summoned to your door round the clock. The full brasserie menu runs till 10pm, after which tartines and drinks are available until the breakfast menu starts at 7am.

Location

Photos

Address

King Street Townhouse

10 Booth Street

Manchester

M2 4AW

United Kingdom

Planes

International hub Manchester Airport is the closest, a 25-minute drive away. Flights from the US connect via London Heathrow (British Airways run a frequent direct service); flights from Asia stopover in central Europe or the UAE. The hotel can organise transfers on request.

Trains

The legacy of Manchester’s industrial past is excellent rail links. The hotel is a 10-minute walk (or five-minute taxi ride) from the city’s four main stations: Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Victoria and Deansgate. Trains from London Euston arrive at Manchester Piccadilly in around two hours and Northern Rail runs frequent services from regional destinations such as Liverpool, Leeds and York.

Automobiles

Locals take great pride in the fact that most destinations are usually a 10-minute walk away from wherever you are, and pavement pounding is the best way to come across the city’s lesser-known treasures. There’s an Avis booth at Manchester Piccadilly, if you want to explore the Peak District’s greener pastures, and a Q-Park on St James Street, a five-minute walk away.

Worth getting out of bed for

Manchester’s electric atmosphere is most charged around King Street Townhouse’s just-by-Albert-Square location. The glossy Spinningfields development is 10 minutes away; stock up on labels in Mulberry, Armani and Flannels boutique, before dining in a crop of global eateries (Comptoir Libonais, Ibèrica, Thaikhun and Fazenda). The Alchemist’s ‘lab’ invents molecular libations (+44 (0)161 817 2950), while pints of craft ale are pulled in The Oast House (+44 (0)161 829 3830) and The Lawn Club’s rustic environs (+44 (0)161 914 7830). Bibliophiles should visit grand, Neo-Gothic John Rylands Library (+44 (0)161 306 0555) on Deansgate, and magical mediaeval library Chetham’s on Long Millgate (+44 (0)161 834 7961). Manchester Art Gallery (+44 (0)161 235 8888) is hung with 19th-century pomp and splendour, with galleries devoted to modern art and design on the third floor. Iconic football stadium Old Trafford (+44 (0)161 868 8000) is in the Stretford area of Greater Manchester (a 15-minute drive away or 20-minute ride on the tram’s A line), and worshippers can pay homage at the National Football Museum (+44 (0)161 605 8200) on Todd Street; Harvey Nichols is a free kick away from there if shopping’s more your bag. Cultured types can watch off-kilter shows at the Royal Exchange Theatre (+44 (0)161 833 9833) or musicals at the Opera House (+44 (0)844 871 3018). The O2 Apollo (+44 (0)161 273 6921), stomping ground of musical giants and superstar comedians, is further south on Stockport Road. The Northern Quarter’s jumble of vintage shops, indie record stores, cafés and bars, is 10 minutes north of the hotel. Rummage for newbie labels at Horsebird and Dead Legacy, or old-school wares at Pop Boutique (+44 (0)161 236 5797) and Retro Rehab (+44 (0)161 839 2050), and join the cool kids in Piccadilly Records (+44 (0)161 839 8008) and Eastern Bloc (+44 (0)161 228 6555). Round off your day dancing till the small hours in Canal Street’s Gay Village. When you’re partied out, do as the locals do and seek out the Town Hall clock tower – the hotel’s just next door.

Local restaurants

Tattu on Gartfield Street (+44 (0)161 819 2060) has an impressive mod-Chinese menu (beef and foie gras pot stickers, lobster prawn toasts and soy-glazed wagyu) and a magnificent cherry-blossom tree growing through the first floor. Alongside black-lacquer panels and huge anchor and rope installations, it’s a dreamy spot for a romantic meal. Close by, on the Avenue, a triangular prism rises from the ground; this isn’t the tip of an illuminati pyramid, but the entrance to Australasia (+44 (0)161 831 0288), a subterranean eatery with a menu that starts in Australia then travels round the Pacific Rim. Choose from sushi, steaks or the sizzling fish and crustacea on the Robata grill. A serious contender for Manchester’s first Michelin star (the city doesn’t have one yet, who’d a thunk it?) is The French at the Midland Hotel (+44 (0)161 932 4198). Its six- or 10-course tasting menus show chef Simon Rogan’s true creative mettle: broad beans and egg muddled with nasturtium and truffle, ox cheek fried in coal oil, and ‘Aynsome offerings’ (flowers and herbs from the eponymous manor). We predict a glittering future. Manchester House (+44 (0)161 835 2557) – chef Aiden Byrne's pride and joy – shows similar innovation in its dishes: roasted langoustine with ajwain, Txogitxu beef tartare and chocolate panna cotta with cauliflower ice-cream will kick start your taste buds.

Local cafés

Licensed till 4am with excellent live acts, the North Quarter's Night & Day Café (+44 (0)161 236 1822) is best known as a bar; but its stacked breakfast sandwich (served from 11am), brie-and-parmesan cheese toasties and mains such as honey-glazed pork belly, make it an excellent lunch spot too. Artisanal single-origin coffee, a Nordic-themed inspired by the owners’ travels, exposed-brick walls and so on: Takk MCR café (+44 (0)7989 583576) on Tariff Street may have heavy hipster leanings, but its strong cups of joe and simple Scandi food (we like the Icelandic-style hotdog) keep its barn-wood pews packed.

Local bars

Manchester’s live-music venues are legion, and each offers something special. Albert Hall (+44 (0)844 858 8521) on Peter Street stands out for its varied programme and colonnaded grade-II-listed concert hall. The venue’s played host to big-hitters (Goldfrapp, Suede) but more experimental acts (the Cinematic Orchestra, Explosions in the Sky) and noted dance outfits (Chvrches) are slotted into their impressive roster. Housed under a railway arch on Whitworth Street, in what was once beloved avant-garde performance space the Green Room, Gorilla (+44 (0)161 407 0301) strives to stay Manchester’s wild card. Experimental music outfits, book readings, art installations, club nights: anything goes; and the upstairs Gin Parlour adds a (generous) measure of sophistication. The martinis are the bar’s pride and joy. A pint in The Marble Arch (+44 (0)161 832 5914) on Rochdale Road is a must; the 19th-century bar has the original wall and floor tiles, and a slightly sloping floor that might befuddle those who’ve sampled several of the 11 craft beers on tap (and a few guest beers).

Photos

Anonymous review

By Francesca Angelini, Journalist

I can tell that Mr Smith and I are thinking the same thing. We’re smiling at the bath tub at the foot of our bed. A shapely, come-hither number fronted by a elegant smattering of Islamic-inspired tiles, it’s clearly designed for one thing: long, romantic soaks à deux. ‘Do we want bubbles?,’ Mr Smith asks, before pouring in some Temple Spa oil; yes, indeed.

Rain is tumbling down, the bath tap is giving out the odd friendly gurgle, and as I slide into the deliciously warm water, I decide that evenings are rarely much more romantic. Mr Smith eagerly clambers in. Then, sheepishly, he leans over the side of the bath to where he’s strategically positioned a TV remote and giggles as Robert Downey Jr, in full Iron Man kit, springs into view. ‘OMG, we can watch TV from the bath!’, he cries out, totally thrilled. My pretend dismay doesn’t last long: it’s a brilliant touch.

King Street Townhouse in Manchester is one of those hotels that specialises in the unexpected and thoughtful. Set bang in the middle of the most salubrious part of Manchester, King Street Townhouse is the kind of grand, distinguished Victorian building that makes the most discerning stop and think, ‘wowsers’. Even Mr Smith, a picky architect, is impressed.

I push open the sturdy wooden doors of the entrance. I have stepped into an old bank, the impressive dark-wood panelling and high ceilings transporting me to my favourite scene in Mary Poppins. ‘If you invest your tuppence / Wisely in the bank…’ I hum.

We’re taken to a room on the third floor. If Mr Smith is the arbiter of buildings, I like to think I’m the expert on interiors. It’s a smart, tasteful, refined room: painted duck-egg blue, there’s an oatmeal carpet, built-in shelves, directional lighting, a dinky antique table and a wonderfully large wooden bed with subtle Aztec-print cushions. On the wall is a pretty framed drawing of a bee, to remind us we’re in Manchester. And then I spot that there’s a whole second room, with a high-backed beige sofa and sturdy desk, that leads onto a massive bathroom with two basins and an oversize walk-in shower.

The room is definitely to my liking. ‘But are you sure it’s the one we booked?’ I ask the receptionist. ‘It’s a free upgrade.’ he tells us. That’s the first nice touch. The second is the plate of buttery shortbread biscuits Mr Smith is now gobbling. The third is the late check-out on Sundays – everyone likes a weekend lie-in.

The following morning, it’s still drizzling. Manchester’s cotton industry apparently thrived on this damp climate that kept the threads moist, so you have to embrace it. However, I’ve failed to bring a waterproof. A young receptionist comes to my aid, handing me the biggest umbrella I’ve ever held. ‘Just bring it back.’ he says, holding out his hand for a fist-pump. That’s the fourth unexpected touch: we may be in formal surroundings, but the staff are personable and unstuffy.

Dry, and pleased with my loan, we spend the morning walking the narrow lanes of the hip Northern Quarter. Playing at being locals, we jump on a bus headed for the freshly face-lifted Whitworth Art Gallery on the other side of town. ‘This bus will cost you £5, that one £1.’ says the driver, pointing to another bus ahead. Good service.

For much of the time, as we pass by impressive red-stone buildings, popping into boutiques, I feel as if I’m in New York. The King Street Townhouse restaurant-come-diner has the same effect with its red-leather banquettes and booths, long wooden bar and lighting. It’s quietly buzzing, as we sit down for an excellent three-course dinner, and slightly raucous – in a good way – by the time we leave. Padding our way upstairs, we spot a mezzanine lounge with plush sofas and a decorous air. Perfect for a nightcap.

The best feature of the hotel is the spa, set high on the 7th floor of the house. Dressing gowns removed, Mr Smith and I plunge into a rooftop infinity pool. The view is superlative: gables and chimneys break up the skyline and Manchester’s iconic bell tower feels close enough to flick water on. Not that we try. I find the button to switch on the bubbles and we bob around happily for a good half hour. Next we visit the steam room before having a lie-down in the chalet-style relaxation room with another floor-to-ceiling vista and jugs of mint and cucumber water. I realise I’ve napped off when I’m woken up by another guest crying out, ‘It’s aaamaazing.’ I couldn’t agree more: Mr Banks would proclaim this tuppence well invested.

Thoroughly refreshed, we return to our room and I run a second bath, but this time, I hide the TV remote before Mr Smith can find it.

The Guestbook

Don’t expect

A reasonably priced breakfast!

Rating

By Rachel, BlackSmith

Stayed on 3 Mar 2017

We loved

The junior suite was fantastic: comfy beds, Nespresso machine and huge, powerful showers! Breakfast was fab too. Manchester House is fantastic for a special dinner.

Rating

By Sue, SilverSmith

Stayed on 10 Feb 2017

We loved

The room, though listed as a 'snug', was lovely, good layout, well laid-out bathroom. Spotless. Great staff. The hotel is well located. There is parking on site (there is a charge) but it saves finding on street parking.

Don’t expect

Great views on the lower floors, the hotel is surrounded by offices. But it didn't affect our stay as we were out and about. The window had shutters, so very private.

Rating

By Tania, BlackSmith

Stayed on 5 Feb 2017

Don’t expect

It's a city break hotel - we were in Manchester on business overnight and it was perfect

King Street Townhouse

Smith Extra

Facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Check–Out

Rates

More details

Also

At the hotel

Our favourite rooms

Poolside

Packing tips

Also

Children

Food and Drink

Top Table

Dress Code

Hotel restaurant

Hotel bar

Last orders

Room service

Location

Address

Planes

Trains

Automobiles

Worth getting out of bed for

Local restaurants

Local cafés

Local bars

Reviews

Anonymous review

By Francesca Angelini, Journalist

The Guestbook

Whenever you book a stay at a Smith Hotel with us, we’ll invite you to review it when you get back. Read what other Smith members had to say in King Street Townhouse’s Guestbook below.

We loved

Don’t expect

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By Ryan, BlackSmith

Stayed on 3 Feb 2018

We loved

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By Sarah, BlackSmith

Stayed on 13 Jul 2017

We loved

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By Rachel, BlackSmith

Stayed on 3 Mar 2017

We loved

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By Sue, SilverSmith

Stayed on 10 Feb 2017

We loved

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By Tania, BlackSmith

Stayed on 5 Feb 2017

We loved

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By Claire, BlackSmith

Stayed on 28 Jan 2017

We loved

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By Kirsty, SilverSmith

Stayed on 14 Sep 2016

We loved

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By Benjamin, BlackSmith

Stayed on 2 Sep 2016

We loved

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By Helen, BlackSmith

Stayed on 31 Jul 2016

We loved

Don’t expect