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The Rookery | Clapham Common | London
The Rookery hotel - Clerkenwell, London - England - Smith Hotels
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The friendly pair checking me in gushed about how lovely my suite was with genuine glee, and 30 seconds later I was bounding up the stairs to the Rook’s Nest, my two-storey home for the night.
We sprinted up our staircase – I love hotel suites with stairs – to find our living room with its antique desk, orchid-adorned coffee table, green leather bucket chairs and books stacked everywhere.
The honesty bar did nothing to dispel our folie à deux: Mr Smith lounged on a settee contentedly admiring the green paisley curtains, while I played the dutiful Mrs and poured us some experimental cocktails.
Ordinarily I’m a massive fan of hotel black-out curtains, but in the Rook’s Nest I recommend leaving the curtains a tiny bit open: waking up in a really big room with sunlight sparkling on the myriad gilded surfaces is exciting.
But, as Mr Smith consoled, we’ll just have to return to these Dickensian digs to stay in the room that boasts a loo set in a wood-panelled confessional.
The Rookery | Boutique Hotel in Clerkenwell, London
Thomas was the licensee of the notorious Red Lion Tavern in West Street on the north-west side of the Fleet Ditch.
The tavern was used as a lodging house and was the resort of thieves of the lowest grade.
A description of Mrs Cornock of The Red Lion survives: “She is the most notorious fence and keeps a house of ill-fame.
Girls and boys of the youngest class resort to this house and she makes up more beds than any other house in the metropolis.
Robberies are continually committed by the Girls on strangers whom they can inveigle into the house”.
The Rookery, London SW4, restaurant review - Telegraph
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The Rookery has a solid, modish, Brooklynish air, conferred by its white tiles and boutique beers.
B and I, who went in December, started with a clementine and clove prosecco, which the winning barman (his nature was winning, I mean; not that he was better than all the other barmen) said was like 'Christmas in a glass'.
I had the squash, chilli and ginger soup (£5), in a nod to the new frost in the air, and the fact that squash makes such a smooth and lovely soup.
It was pretty subtle: both the ginger and the chilli were restrained, so that squash was the dominant flavour, and very pleasing it was, too – delicate but perky.
Luckily, I won the main course, with my confit duck over red cabbage, celeriac and chestnuts (£13.50).
The Rookery Hotel Review, City of London, London | Travel
Rookery | Restaurants in Clapham, London
Please everyone in your group with the equally thoughtful beer and wine lists at this welcoming, well-heeled, up-tempo bar.
Tables are likely to be booked up by diners (especially the cosy alcove spots), but there are plenty of seats for drop-ins at the unfussy wooden bar – plus a heated front porch with a view of the south side of the Common (albeit across a multi-lane road).