The Londoner Is the West End Hotel I Keep Going Back To
By Freddie Fox | Silver Fox Escorts
Champagne on the ground floor, a pool under the pavement and a Japanese garden on the roof. And all of it is a stroll from the best shopping in London.
Ask me where to stay in the West End and I'll give you the same answer every time. It's The Londoner, in the south-west corner of Leicester Square. It's the hotel I love most in town, and it's where I send Silver Fox gentlemen first. That isn't only because of the breakfast in bed (although that does help).
It opened in September 2021, where the old Odeon West End cinema used to stand. It belongs to Edwardian Hotels London, a family-run group, and its own website calls it the world's first "super boutique" hotel. In plain English, that means 350 rooms and suites that somehow feel like a much smaller place. The building has 16 storeys, and six of those are dug roughly 30 metres down beneath the square. By the hotel's reckoning, no other basement in London that people actually use goes deeper. Once you're through the doors, the crowds queuing for the M&M's shop outside seem miles away.
The Bars on the Ground Floor
Walk in and the lobby runs straight into The Stage, a dusky pink Champagne bar with a Champagne trolley and a mixologist ready to make you something. You can have breakfast or afternoon tea there, and it puts on live music and performances. The lighting stays low all day long. Some guests find that odd at first, but I find it very flattering (at my age you take all the help you can get).
Round the corner is Joshua's Tavern, which is more relaxed. It's a pub at heart, with 52 gins behind the bar, beer pulled straight from big copper tanks and decent bar snacks. It takes its name and its wall paintings from Sir Joshua Reynolds, who painted society portraits from a house on the square in the 1700s. Whitcomb's, the hotel's all-day restaurant, sits at the front of the building and cooks Mediterranean food, with France, Italy and Greece all on the menu.
The Residence Upstairs
This is the part I'd book for. Climb a single flight from the lobby and you reach The Residence, three rooms that only hotel guests can use, so the key card in your pocket is the only ticket you need. The Drawing Room serves food from morning to night and has sofas, board games and a snack trolley. The Y Bar gets its name from the shape of the counter, and its wood panelling looks plain in daylight and comes alive with graffiti-style patterns at night. Then there's The Whisky Room, a speakeasy you'd walk straight past, with more than 50 whiskies, each one locked away in its own glass cabinet. It's the kind of room where you lose an hour without noticing.
Eight Floors Up
On the top floor is 8 at The Londoner, a Japanese izakaya and bar. The cocktail list is called 8 Tastes of Japan, and each drink takes its cue from a different flavour of Japanese cooking. On the plate it's sushi, sashimi and wagyu, and the hotel is quietly proud of its rare Japanese whiskies, a list it counts among the best in Europe. The terrace has a fire pit and views across the skyline. The Shima Garden has a roof that slides back on warm evenings, and the walls are hung with woven rope inspired by shibari (look it up, but maybe not on the office computer). Doors open at 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
The Rooms and Suites
The bedrooms are loft-style and open-plan, with soft colours, wood panelling and contemporary art. Even the King Room, at 24 square metres, has room to breathe. The Deluxe Kings are 29 square metres, and you can choose one with a city view. The suites get bigger from there. The Corner Suite is 52 square metres, the Capital Suite is 86 and the Signature Suite is 119, with its own interior terrace and a separate bedroom wing. At the very top, the Tower Penthouse is a two-storey apartment of 200 square metres. According to the Michelin Guide, every room gets windows that run floor to ceiling, a Nespresso machine, a Roberts radio and a Toto washlet (a Japanese loo with more settings than my car). Room service runs around the clock, which matters more to me than it probably should.
The Retreat Below Ground
The spa, The Retreat, sits underneath Leicester Square itself. It has a 12.5-metre pool, a hydropool, a sauna, a steam room and private cabanas by the pool. The gym is open 24 hours, the treatments use Omorovicza skincare, and Joe Vipond Gentlemen's Grooming will tidy up your beard while you're down there. Guests staying at the hotel get free spa access in one-hour slots that need booking ahead, and the pool is open from 6am to 10pm. From Friday to Sunday the whole floor is for hotel guests only. Phones and cameras are banned by the pool, which I fully approve of.
Leicester Square on the Doorstep
You'll have heard of the square, and it has more history than most people realise (and it's pronounced "Lester"). It started life in the 1670s as Leicester Fields, and the painters Hogarth and Reynolds both had homes there. The Victorians built grand theatres like the Alhambra and the Empire, and most of those later became cinemas. That's why the big London film premieres still roll out the red carpet here, at the Odeon Luxe and the Empire. The garden in the middle has a statue of Shakespeare that has stood there since 1874, and Charlie Chaplin joined him in 1981. The Official London Theatre Ticket Booth is also on the square. It has been selling discounted theatre seats since 1980, and it's my first stop if I fancy a show that evening.
Chinatown starts a block to the north. Head up Gerrard Street for roast duck and custard tarts, and Soho's bars and restaurants are just beyond. Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery are about six minutes away on foot. Leicester Square Tube station is closer to Covent Garden station than any other two stops on the network, only about 260 metres apart, so please walk it.
Shopping Within Walking Distance
This is where I'm sold. Piccadilly Circus is about six minutes' walk west, and from there Regent Street curves north towards Oxford Circus. TfL puts that stretch at around 11 minutes on foot, though it takes me far longer, because I stop at every window. Liberty is just off Regent Street, and Savile Row runs parallel to it for anyone who still believes in a proper suit (I do). Jermyn Street and its shirtmakers sit just south of Piccadilly. Then Oxford Street stretches away to the west with its department stores, if you have the legs and the credit limit (and our Oxford Street page shows who's nearby if you fancy company for a drink afterwards). Head the opposite way and Covent Garden's piazza is about six minutes off. A morning of shopping, lunch, a spa session and then cocktails on the roof is my idea of a very good day.
The Silver Fox Ladies Nearby
The hotel is central, and so are some of my favourite ladies. There's no Silver Fox page for Leicester Square itself, but Charing Cross and Piccadilly cover the streets either side of the square.
The nearest ladies are in Covent Garden. Samantha is a Brazilian brunette with an apartment there who also visits hotels and private addresses, and she's a natural dinner date. Estelle, a red-haired Brazilian, has an apartment a two-minute walk from Covent Garden Tube and visits hotels too. If you're buying her a drink at The Stage first, she says she'll have an Aperol or a Pornstar Martini.
In Soho, Lula's nearest station is Leicester Square. She's a blonde Brazilian with an apartment in Soho who also visits hotels across London.
Head west towards Green Park and you'll find Liana, whose apartment is five minutes on foot from Green Park station. She also visits hotels across Central London. She dresses beautifully, usually in something fitted with heels, which is exactly right for a nightcap in the Whisky Room. Over in Mayfair, Lucia-Anne is a fun, gym-loving blonde who sees guests at her own apartment and also visits hotels and private addresses.
If you'd like someone closer to your own vintage, Claire-C is a British "40 something" who visits hotels and private addresses in Central London and loves being taken out to dinner. You'll find more ladies like her among our mature escorts.
Whether you go to her or she comes to you, our incall escorts and outcall escorts pages show who's available, and there's a useful piece on what makes a hotel right for an outcall.
One Last Thing
Book the room, use the spa and save the Whisky Room for last. Who you share that nightcap with is up to you, but our ladies would be glad to help.
Freddie Fox, Silver Fox Escorts
