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Luxury in a rough part of London - for travellers who want to experience the unconventional

London's King Cross is not an area that springs to mind for most travellers with any kind of a budget. Much as we love Mayfair, we can't help but feel silly when our London friends ask us to come and play and we have to spend an hour travelling East, West, North to where the action/galleries/bars actually is/are or people actually live.

Well its time to stop feeling like an outsider - ttry staying at the Rough Luxe hotel - a little bit of luxury in King's Cross, an area known for its tough edge, it's also one of London's hidden secrets (if of course you can see past its ugliness). The recently renovated St. Pancras station now provides the Eurostar link straight to Paris, plus there's a whole host of interesting places to eat beyond Nobu such as London's first eco-restaurant, Acorn House (Mick Jagger is reputedly a fan) plus an outpost of the Gagosian gallery - that confirms the area's hip credentials.

We have to admit the concept of staying in an upcoming area yet returning home to Frette sheets is exactly what we consider cool. The grade II listed home was transformed by internationally acclaimed designer Rabih Hage and is connected to a Contemporary Art Gallery in the courtyard behind, where you will also find a cute coffee bar. The look is a mix of old and new, furniture and art; combining colours and beautiful fabrics with cheap materials and existing distressed original walls. Cheap materials are treated as precious items and preserved for their beauty and memory of the site.

With just nine rooms, hand-made toiletries by Aran Aromatics, rooms can link together to make informal suites plus in a move we belive ALL hotels should follow, rooms are equipped with SkypeMobiles.The hotel has a small spa room - and can arrange visits from reflexologists and beauticians, trainers personal shoppers and stylists. As the hotel admits, London is home to amazing restaurants, so wishing to compete there is no in-house restaurant - but the staff are more happy to get you into a restaurant, or if you are stuck for something to do in the evening, you can let them know and they'll do the rest.

Kerry Olsen

 

Source & Photo Credit: www.roughluxe.co.uk

 

TAGS: london travel rough luxe gagosian gallery king's cross frette cool skypemobiles hotel new