William IV

For our holiday to London we stayed in the pub come hotel William IV, about a half hour walk to the centre of Portobello Rd.

Despite the fact that it was a nice hotel with easy access to the Bakerloo line I don't think it's somewhere we would stay again, mainly due to the fact the function room was only a stones throw from our bedroom which led to a couple of sleepless nights (though we were pre-warned of this via the website).


But for looks alone WIV scored high with original features intact (fireplaces, beams, sash windows) and a colour palette straight out of a Farrow and Ball catalogue. The layout was characteristic of a country cottage - accessing certain rooms meant going upstairs then back down via different steps - creating a secret passage feel.

Furniture was a mix of old and new - the bar area (including the beer garden) was a mismatch of leather wing chairs, couches and stools, while the rooms included low leather bound beds and disco ball style lighting.

The food was also amazing...on our first night we ate in the bar and had breakfast in the restaurant every morning (unfortunately we missed out on the BBQ menu which came out on Saturday):