An achingly cool and calm oasis amid Notting Hill’s Portobello bustle
By Rosalyn Wikeley
The Laslett
Stretching out across five Notting Hill townhouses on Pembridge Gardens, all pillared and stucco-fronted, the Laslett feels less bohemian and more billionaire territory at first glance. This is after all West London’s affluent epicentre, but the neighbourhood’s creative spirit lives on within the boutique hotel’s retro rooms and across its bistro-style tables scattered beneath sweeping Victorian ceilings.
The Laslett
It’s named after Notting Hill Festival (forerunner of the Carnival’s) founder, Rhaune Laslett and takes the area’s artistic and music pedigree seriously. Local artworks adorn the walls of a brooding library and restaurant – where parquet floors, dusky velvet benches and mid century furniture paint a Nordic, masculine picture.
The Laslett
The hygge continues upstairs, just through a British lens with battered Penguin Classics lining shelves, local artworks and photography framed in black and heritage-style bathrooms you’d typically associate with a Georgian country hotel. Crisp white sheets contrast reclaimed wooden headboards, from which mid-century side tables have been carved, and symmetrically placed below Tom Dixon lamps. The scene evokes a bachelor’s pared down pied-a-terre – the well-shaved sort that browses vinyl stores and sips espressos over design magazines.
The Laslett
Downstairs, the Henderson Bar & Kitchen puts on the viennoiserie, smoked salmon benedict and haute sausage patty brioche buns for drawn-out brunches. It soon shifts gear to pastrami with Sally Clarke sourdough, cakes, teas, then, (quite abruptly), playful rum punches and jalapeno margaritas. Elegantly understated locals mop up truffle hummus and babaganoush with warm pitta from the terrace in summer, or share salt cod fishcakes and lamb ragu indoors over mellifluous conversation inside during the cooler months.
The Laslett Henderson Bar
While the hotel’s design may twist to a cool international crowd, the Laslett is first and foremost a neighbourhood hangout, where antiques dealers and artists put the world to rights over really, really good coffee.
Sustainability: From the coffee beans to the beers and wines selected from small independent breweries and growers, sustainability and community sit front and centre at Laslett’s restaurant and bar. Even the meats lining the boards are ethically produced and procured by Cannon & Cannon.
Family-friendly: While interconnecting rooms are available and well-behaved children were present for breakfast during our stay (evidently there as a half term pastry treat with their parents), the Laslett strikes a grown-up note. You’re more likely to see a spruced art collector smoking a cigar on the terrace than prams and tot paraphernalia.
The Laslett
Access: Three rooms are suitable for those with mobility issues, while the Laslett’s communal spaces can all be accessed via ramps and two lifts.
The Laslett
Insider tips to know: Unbeknownst to many, the Recharge Rooms – a small-but-mighty spa and gym area – serve up cutting-edge wellness treatments such as an Ozone sauna, a lymphatic drainage and gentle chemical peel combination for a ‘fast glow,’ and an anti-age Radiofrequency and MesoJet skin infusion. A raft of plugged-in classes, such as iyengar yoga and EMS boxing, can be booked in the fitness rooms.
The Laslett
Doubles from £289
Location Guide: Notting Hill