If you haven’t heard of this historical Mayfair hotel, you probably don’t know London very well. Opened by Lord Byron’s butler in 1837, every wall has some sort of historical tale to it.

Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie took refuge in one of the hotel’s sumptuous suite after the revolution in 1871 that brought about the Third Republic. Five years later, the first British telephone call would be made in another of the hotel’s 117 rooms. Rudyard Kipling, who would write “the jungle book” during his stay, was yet another of the hotel’s illustrious guests, alongside Haile Selassin, and at one point, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill! If your escort has even the slightest knowledge of history, you should have no trouble at all wowing her with those anecdotes…

However, she probably will only need to cross the threshold of the hotel’s lobby to be “wowed”. Having joined the Rocco Forte collection of luxury hotels in 2005, Brown’s hotel is every bit as sumptuous as it was a hundred years ago. Indeed, many of the public spaces still retain the very same Jacobean decor of the 1800s, creating an elegant and elaborate feel.

While Brown’s hotel is understandably expensive, it’s certainly worth it. The hotel oozes a kind of old English atmosphere of sophistication and luxury that can only be described as “aristocratic”.

Brown’s, Albemarle Street, Mayfair, W1S 4BP

020 7493 6020