Boutique Hotel Near Me in Covent Garden: Henrietta's Rooms Above Orwell's Publisher

Victor Gollancz Ltd, the publisher of George Orwell and John le Carré, once worked out of the townhouses at 14-15 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8QH, and since 2017 they have held a 40-room hotel. The Experimental Group opened it as the Henrietta Hotel; it now trades as Henrietta Experimental. Check-in is from 3pm, rooms run from 17 m² to 35 m², and Jackson Boxer's bistro Henri serves from 7am. For anyone typing boutique hotel near me in the Covent Garden Piazza, it is one street away.

Henrietta Street continues Southampton Street westward to Bedford Street, just off the Covent Garden Piazza. The hotel's own access page puts both Covent Garden and Leicester Square stations about five minutes away on foot, and its FAQ adds that the front door is a two-minute walk from the Savoy Theatre. Heathrow is listed at roughly 47 minutes and London City at about 45 minutes. There is no on-site parking and no electric vehicle charging, so arrive by train or taxi.

Private transfers can be booked through the team for an extra charge, but they need to be arranged in advance by email to sleep@henriettahotel.com. Reception is staffed 24 hours a day and every check-in is handled in person by a receptionist rather than a kiosk, which matters if your train arrives late. The concierge desk also stores luggage, so you can drop bags before 3pm and spend the morning in the market.

Henrietta Street was planned from 1631 and finished by 1634, named after Henrietta Maria, the queen consort of Charles I. Most of the houses standing today are nineteenth-century rebuilds. By the 1870s the street was crowded with publishers, and in 1874 The Builder called it fast becoming the Paternoster Row of the West End. Williams and Norgate kept offices at number 14, and Jane Austen visited her brother Henry at number 10 in 1814.

Victor Gollancz founded his publishing house in 1928 with offices on Henrietta Street, and the Michelin Guide notes that the townhouse at 14 and 15 was home to Victor Gollancz Ltd, publisher of Orwell and le Carré. When Suitcase magazine reviewed the hotel in August 2017, it described the bar menu nodding to that literary past, with a gin, Lillet Blanc and crème de cassis drink called The Down and Out named for Orwell.

The Experimental Group began in Paris in 2007 as a single cocktail bar on a quiet street and grew into wine bars, restaurants and hotels across Europe and New York. Dorothée Meilichzon, the designer behind the group's Grand Pigalle in Paris, did the interiors: terracotta, botanical prints, hand-painted details and custom furniture with rounded 1970s armchairs, drawn from the arches of the old Covent Garden fruit and vegetable market.

The 40 rooms are split across two buildings on opposite sides of the street. The main house at 14-15 has reception on the ground floor and a lift up to the rooms, while the annexe across the road holds the Floral Superior rooms, which look over Henrietta Street or St Paul's Church. Every room has air conditioning, and rooms sleep up to two adults, with a child or baby added in some categories.

Little Covent Garden, the standard room, is 17 m² with a queen or king bed and a rainfall shower. Skip it if you travel with two large suitcases; the 20 m² Covent Garden Superior or Grand Covent Garden Deluxe give you room to open them, and the Deluxe overlooks the seventeenth-century St Paul's Church. Saint Paul Executive rooms, at 29 m², come with a deep bathtub and face the quiet churchyard.

Two categories have outdoor space: the London Eye Superior Terrace, a 20 m² room with a private terrace facing the wheel, and the Grand London Eye Junior Suite, 35 m² with a terrace, skyline views and either a freestanding bath or a rainfall shower. Cots are free for children under two, and some Executive rooms take an extra bed for children up to 12 at £80 per night, bookable only by phone or email.

Behind the wooden door at 14-15 sits Henri, which Jackson Boxer of Brunswick House and Orasay took over in 2024 after earlier spells under chefs including Ollie Dabbous. Meilichzon refurbished the room with herringbone floors, white linen, dark wood panelling, booths in leather and velvet, and Art Nouveau brasserie touches crossed with a British pub. It is open every day: breakfast from 7am, lunch from 12pm and dinner from 5pm until 11pm, with a mezzanine bar for private parties.

The October 2026 à la carte opens with grilled snails, green garlic and veal rice at £18, fried pieds de cochon with Agen prune and beer mustard at £5 each, and a French onion croque at £14. Steak frites with sauce Henri is £28 and hake grenobloise with brown shrimp is £27. Finish with sticky toffee madeleines and roasted vanilla ice cream at £12. Henri adds an optional 12.5% service charge to the bill.

Cognac is the bar's signature, and every cocktail carries a French first name. Alain mixes Hine VSOP Cognac, Amaro Montenegro, Campari and Rinquinquin à la Pêche for £14.50; Fernand blends kaffir-leaf mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse and Suze for £15. Pours are 50ml, and 25ml singles come on request. The Snack Pack pairs duck-fat fries, homemade mayo and 15g of N25 caviar with a Belvedere martini for £60.

There are two rates. The non-refundable rate charges the whole stay, VAT included, at booking; the flexible rate takes no advance deposit and allows free cancellation or changes until 12pm hotel time the day before arrival, after which a late cancellation or no-show costs the full stay. Children pay the adult rate from age two. Pets are not allowed, so dog owners need another address. Only one room, an Executive, is wheelchair accessible.

Rates with or without breakfast are offered when you book online. The buffet at Henri is £24 and covers granola, Greek yogurt, croissants, pain au chocolat, Jambon de Paris and Gruyère, while hot plates are ordered on top: a Full Henri with Toulouse sausage and boudin noir is £18, eggs Benedict £15 and buckwheat pancakes £13. Breakfast can also be sent up to the room.

Henri's pre-theatre set menu is £29 for two courses or £33 for three, built around carrot râpée, chicken schnitzel and roast cauliflower, and the kitchen promises to move fast enough to get you to your seats. Afternoon tea is £45 per person, served from 12pm to 4pm until 31 October and booked at least 48 hours ahead, with a £15 Champagne upgrade. From 26 October to 1 November an Apéro Hour pours Burgundy Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from 12pm.

The Saint Paul rooms look over the churchyard of St Paul's, the Actors' Church, built by Inigo Jones and standing since 1633. Its address is on Bedford Street, where Henrietta Street ends to the west. Admission is free, Sunday Eucharist is at 11am, and from 2 October to 25 November 2026 its Lamplight Concerts with Duo Atlantis fill the nave with hundreds of glowing lamps at 7pm, an easy evening plan after an early Henri dinner.

Plan B, if Henrietta is full, is Covent Garden Hotel at 10 Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9HB, on the cobbled streets of Seven Dials. Kit Kemp designed its 58 rooms and it holds One MICHELIN Key for 2026. Its Brasserie Max runs a Martini Hour from 5pm to 6pm Monday to Friday, with £14 martinis and complimentary seasonal fries, and its guests get a first-floor library with an honesty bar.

Henrietta Experimental, 14-15 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8QH, in Covent Garden, City of Westminster. Check-in from 3pm, check-out by 11am, 24-hour reception. Nearest Tube: Covent Garden or Leicester Square, five minutes on foot. No parking, no pets. Henri open daily from 7am; pre-theatre £29 or £33, afternoon tea £45. Payment by Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa, Mastercard and American Express.