Boutique Hotel Near Me in Soho: Hazlitt's Four-Posters Where an Essayist Died

William Hazlitt, the essayist, died at 6 Frith Street on 18 September 1830, and that house is now part of Hazlitt's, a 30-room hotel. The address is 6 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 3JA, in a row of three townhouses built in 1718 just south of Soho Square. There is no restaurant, rooms carry names instead of numbers, and breakfast comes to your door from £12.95. Anyone typing boutique hotel near me from a Soho theatre queue can be in a carved four-poster within minutes.

The hotel names Tottenham Court Road as its nearest Tube, with Leicester Square as a second option. The easiest way in is the Elizabeth line's western ticket hall on Dean Street, built under Soho Square for the line's 230-metre platforms. Come up there, cut through Soho Square and walk down Frith Street, which runs parallel to Dean Street. Number 6 carries a round blue English Heritage plaque reading William Hazlitt, Essayist, Died Here.

Conde Nast Traveller wrote that nothing outside indicates a hotel, and that being buzzed into the townhouse feels like being let into a well-kept secret. That is still the arrival: you ring, the door opens, and the front hall is a domestic Georgian entrance rather than a lobby. Drivers should know the hotel sits inside both the Congestion Charge zone and the Ultra Low Emission Zone, so arriving by taxi or Tube is simpler than bringing a car.

The houses at 5, 6 and 7 Frith Street went up in 1718, with the architect Thomas Archer, who also designed St John's Smith Square, overseeing the plans. Jonathan Swift was a regular visitor at number 5 when his protegee Mary Barber lived there. Hazlitt moved into lodgings at number 6 in early 1830, broke and ill, and died in a small back room with his son and Charles Lamb at his bedside.

In 1986 Peter McKay and Douglas Blain, founding members of the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, overheard an architect at a party complaining that a client wanted to turn an unmodernised terrace into flats, ripping out listed panelling, two staircases and marble chimneypieces. They outbid the client the next day. The facade still advertised a nurses' hostel, and a passing neighbour suggested dropping the S. Six months later Hazlitt's opened as one of London's first boutique hotels.

Writers kept coming. Two bookcases hold books by authors who stayed, many of them signed first editions, and guests have included Bill Bryson, Seamus Heaney, J.K. Rowling and Ted Hughes. Bryson joked in Notes from a Small Island that the bedrooms are named after Hazlitt's friends and lovers. Anthony Bourdain said staying here was like staying at a potty English uncle's when he is not at home. Expect writers, artists and film and TV people among the guests.

The hotel says it names every room because it does not believe in numbering guests. Deluxe Doubles average 33 square metres with a king-size bed or a king-size four-poster; a December 2024 guest stayed in the Dr John Snow Room and slept in its four-poster. Luxury Doubles average 24 square metres and have carved oak king-size beds and antique writing desks. Superior Doubles, at 23 square metres, may have a window seat and a roll-top or theatre bath.

Club Doubles, at 19 square metres, have either 17th-century carved oak beds or Georgian four-posters with restored vintage bathroom fittings. Small Doubles are 18 square metres with a roll-top bath and hand-held shower, and Club Singles at 15 square metres each have a genuine 18th-century writing desk. Every room has air-conditioning, free WiFi, spring water, land&water toiletries and a TV with Chromecast, tucked away so the panelling stays the main event.

The Junior Suites average 43 square metres. Baron Willoughby has its original 18th-century fireplace and a carved oak bed with a mahogany compactum at its foot, while Teresa Cornelys has gilded cherubs carved into the bed and a dressing table hidden behind panelling. The two-storey Duke of Monmouth suite runs to 66 square metres plus a 24-square-metre garden under a sliding glass roof, and its marble bath fills from the beak of a life-sized eagle.

Hazlitt's has no restaurant, so breakfast is delivered to your room, usually between 7am and 10am, with earlier or later times on request. The 2026 menu runs from Porridge with dried fruits, nuts and honey at £5.20 to a Bacon Sandwich of Richard Woodall smoked back bacon in ciabatta at £13.95. Beigel Bake bagels from Brick Lane come with smoked salmon and cream cheese for £13.95, and a Bucks Fizz made with Lallier Champagne is £14.50.

A limited room service menu is available 24 hours. Lobster and crab ravioli with lemon and Parmesan is £18, a chicken and asparagus pie is £15.50, and a board of three cured meats from Cobble Lane Cured is £21.50. If you order from a delivery app, staff will bring up crockery and cutlery. Downstairs, guests pour their own drinks at the honesty bar in the Library and choose from a run of gins at the gin bar in the Wardrobe.

The wine list is chosen by Theatre of Wine, a specialist importer of small producers, and arranged as a tour of Georgian drinking habits. The Fresco Vinho Verde is £10.50 a 175ml glass, the Barbeito Rainwater Madeira is £14 for 100ml, and a bottle of Philiponnat Royale Reserve Champagne is £120. Both bars are for hotel guests only, so you cannot bring a friend in off Frith Street for a nightcap unless they are staying.

Be honest about mobility before booking. The houses are Grade II* listed, and the group's FAQ says only certain rooms at Hazlitt's can be reached by lift; floors are uneven and doorframes lean after three centuries of settling. If steps are a problem, book Batty Langley's in Spitalfields, the group's only fully accessible hotel, instead. The Club Single at 15 square metres also suits only one traveller with light luggage.

Bookings need a card or deposit as a guarantee, and the 48-hour cancellation rule is strict: changes or no-shows after 12pm two days before arrival can cost one night. Children up to 12 stay free sharing a room with an adult in some categories, and extra beds for anyone 13 and over are £45. Small dogs are allowed only by prior arrangement, service animals stay free, and the hotel can arrange transfers from Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and London City.

If Hazlitt's is full, the Plan B is its Clerkenwell sister, The Rookery, at 12 Peter's Lane, Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6DS, near Farringdon station. It is run by the same owners, its design is inspired by Georgian London, its rooms are named after local characters such as the executioner Jack Ketch, and it has the same honesty bar format. There is no lift there at all, so the same stair warning applies.

With no dining room on site, the obvious dinner is Quo Vadis at 26-29 Dean Street, a short walk west. The building was once a brothel and a home of Karl Marx, and the restaurant serves seasonal, regional British cooking from Jeremy Lee and his team. Time Out singles out the smoked eel. Its ground floor also houses Barrafina at 26-27 Dean Street, its sister tapas restaurant, for a quicker supper.

For a morning walk, the hotel itself recommends Sir John Soane's Museum, preserved as the architect left it when he died in 1833. The house was fully plumbed with flushing toilets, unusual for its day, and Soane asked that a sealed lid on his bathtub stay closed until 1896. When it was finally lifted, it held only old papers and false teeth.

Hazlitt's, 6 Frith Street, Soho, London W1D 3JA. Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road, with Leicester Square also close. Breakfast in room, generally 7am to 10am, dishes from £5.20 to £14.95. Room service 24 hours. Honesty bar and gin bar for residents only. 48-hour cancellation policy. Small dogs by prior arrangement. Smoking is not permitted inside.