The Eccleston Square Hotel in London is the ideal base for all theatre lovers
Just a short walk to St James Theatre and a five minutes from Victoria station, this hotel offers top-class facilities
A POST-Christmas trip to beat the January blues is a must for me.
So my sister Collette and I travelled to London for a weekend to take in a West End show — and the award-winning RENT at the iconic St James Theatre was our choice for the perfect pick-me-up.
Our base for the weekend was the Eccleston Square Hotel.
Centrally located in Belgravia, it’s just a five-minute walk from Victoria Station IF you follow an accurate navigation app on your phone, 30 minutes if you don’t (ahem).
Grade II-listed Georgian townhouses overlook a tranquil square and garden which hotel guests have full use of and there is even the opportunity to picnic there, weather permitting.
And you’ll be in distinguished company as former residents include Sir Winston Churchill, a young Princess Victoria and Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Albert Square eat your heart out.
Behind the doors of numbers 36 and 37 lies the award-winning, modern boutique hotel that is Eccleston Square.
We ditched any notion that we were there to simply dump our bags and dash out to hit the town as soon as we crossed the threshold.
Opened in 2011, brother-and-sister team Olivia and James Byrne have created a luxury haven for the digital age.
No expense has been spared with HD3D televisions, iPads with butler and concierge apps and smart glass walls that flick between opaque or transparent at the touch of a button.
There is even a complimentary smartphone for guests to use during their stay with free calls to mobiles and landlines in selected countries and free data to help navigate your way around the city... we could’ve done with one earlier!
That’s all well and good for tech-junkies, but what about the comfort I hear you ask? Has this been sacrificed for all mod-cons?
Well, each room has a top-of-the- range Hästens bed — electronically adjustable, of course, with vibrating massage programme. Sheer bliss.
And for ultimate in luxury there are bathrobes, slippers, complimentary L’Occitane products, pillow mist and bespoke room fragrance.
In fact, you would be forgiven for not actually leaving your room for the duration of your stay and they’ve thought of that too — there’s full satellite TV or use of an extensive library of 3D movies to keep you occupied!
And the best bit of all? You don’t have to break the bank to stay here.
An overnight stay starts from just £153 AND if you book directly with the hotel the minibar is free!
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On this evidence it’s easy to see why it was recently crowned as the best hotel in London and eighth best in Europe by Condé Nast Traveller.
We’d spent so much time relishing our surroundings that it was fortunate St James Theatre was only a short walk from Eccleston Square.
Grabbing a refreshment and settling down in our seats to watch the show we didn’t know what to expect.
Never having previously seen RENT or even reading about it, we wanted it to be a surprise — and that it certainly was.
RENT tells the story of a group of young artists struggling to survive in New York City’s East Village while trying to create a life for themselves under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.
An intense and emotional portrayal, we were blown away by the commitment of each character and those incredible singing voices.
There were three standout performances — sassy drag queen Angel (Layton Williams), emotionally torn Mimi (Philippa Stefani) struggling to beat drug addiction and Maureen (X Factor alumni Lucie Jones), a wacky and outrageous performance artist.
At the end of the musical we were so emotionally drained by the cast’s powerful performances, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
They more than earned their standing ovation.
It was one of those moments that when you leave you want to buy tickets for the next show, but sadly it had been sold out for months.
However RENT — which opened on Broadway in 1996 — is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a UK-wide tour, including a four-day stint at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre from February 14.
Next stop, Edinburgh…
GO: ECCLESTON SQUARE HOTEL, LONDON
STAYING THERE: Rooms at the Eccleston Square Hotel start from £153 a night.
See www.ecclestonsquarehotel.com
MORE INFO:Tickets for Rent at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh from February 14-18 are from £20.50-£29.50.
See edtheatres.com/rent or call 0131 529 6000.
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