Brama

Bromley Town Hall dates from 1907 and has been beautifully renovated, retaining buckets of period style, not least the elegant art deco staircase where local hero David Bowie posed for the media back in the 1970s, and even a nuclear bunker underneath the building. Furnishings are cool, and well-chosen mid-century items and perfectly in keeping. The hotel is deliberately informal, offering what they call  'luxury as you like it',  with no reception, online check-in and a mobile key to your room, making it as private or as welcoming as you like; there are plenty of staff on hand to help you whenever you need it. The 23 guest rooms range from Shoebox and Snug to Spacious, Studio and Suite. Even the smallest are a decent size, and they're all quite contemporary and slightly playful, decorated with a sleek mid-century minimalism and lots of thoughtful touches, including excellent WiFi, Smart TVs, tea- and coffee-making facilities, bottles of filtered water, biscuits, good-quality hairdryers, steamers for clothes, and air- and regular USB chargers. Even the smallest rooms have king-size beds, while others have super-kings; mattresses are Hypnos and super-comfortable. Bathrooms come with robes, refillable Bramley toiletries and 'Bumboo' sustainable toilet rolls.  There are also two accessible rooms, both spacious and with adapted doorways and bathrooms, one of which has a bath.

All in all, with room rates starting at just over £100, it's hard to find better value anywhere in London for accommodation of this quality. And guess what? Bromley isn't a bad base, with a lively vibe and lots of places to eat and drink, including the on-site Dorothy and Marshall bar and restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It occupies the large and airy space of the original court chamber and has an outside terrace in the adjacent courtyard – head there to sample one of their 'Rebel Rebel' cocktails, named in honour of Bowie! Best of all, the hotel is a two-minute walk from Bromley North station, from where trains can whisk you to London's Charing Cross in around half an hour (it's also less than a 10-minute walk to Bromley South, 18 minutes from Victoria).