At No. 15 by Guesthouse in Bath, charm and whimsy are woven with the elegance of Regency Bath, crafting an inviting, homely ambience both enchanting and ineffably chic. Past grandeur flirts with gentle modern touches, inviting a sense of playfulness and Alice-like magic. The hotel, a Georgian townhouse, doesn’t take itself too seriously — adding lacy bed curtains as a grainy painted backdrop on the wall in many of the rooms, but this is where its charm lies. Travellers arriving to the reception will find, just under a large chandelier, a key cabinet hidden in an oversized doll house, a hint of what’s to expect from a night in No 15 by Guesthouse.
The Rooms at No 15 by Guesthouse
The guest rooms each feel like little theatres. Some are littered with antiques, others feature the aforementioned trompe-l’œil designs painted as backdrops to large cosy beds, and all have their own doll house for tea and coffee makers. This slightly off-kilter eccentricity is embraced with gusto but the bones of the house remain. Each room is homely yet stately with long traditional sash windows allowing light to flood the stage within. My favourite is by far the Pulteney Room, which comes with a flourish of extra space and a Crosley record player, for which you’ll find a record library posed along the wall of a lower ground staircase. Happily, while browsing the library, I came across some deep cuts from The Cure and Spear of Destiny. The beds are comfortable and embracing and the sofa provides a central space from which to admire not just the room but Bath’s verdant cityscape just beyond the window.
The common spaces are full of NO.15’s whimsy-full personality, eschewing a tidy luxury for a lived-in opulence with grand chandeliers of various designs dangling in almost every room, while the walls are adorned with bold, playful art, and ultimately, a sense of homeliness not often achieved in such a space.
The Restaurant and Bar at No.15 Great Pulteney
Breakfasts are generally good with a tasty and eclectic cooked selection but a rather small continental selection and the dining room looks out to a small terrace, a delight on sunny mornings. The Bar at No 15 Great Pulteney Street used to serve its cocktails with a pack of cards detailing what you’d selected, but this, for some reason, has been abandoned in favour of a more traditional service style, which I find takes away from the experience — a decision I’m certain was about cost over guest experience. This is particularly sad. as the treasure trove tables stuffed with old timepieces and the kinds of discarded mechanics only the most skilled artifice could recognise remain, adding to the aforementioned playful atmosphere that No 15 exudes.
The cocktails too seem to have suffered at some point between the hotel’s inception and the new management provided by Guesthouse. Previously, cocktails arrived with that same theatrical kick seen throughout No 15, with odd-shaped glasses and colourful trimmings, that lent the otherwise typical flavours a bit of much-needed panache to keep up with the colour and magic of the rest of the hotel, but now they come in rocks glasses and coupes with little to no dramatic flourishes, diminishing the flamboyant theme. The flavours too lack any real zeal, and with prices even more expensive than some of the world’s greatest bars in London (more than my regular haunts Tayer & Elementary and The Bar With Shapes for A Name), there is not just room but a great need for improvement here.
But otherwise, the hotel is so pleasant, that while it feels a little cliche to say it, it exudes the comfort and pleasantness of a home away from home. The little touches in each room make it feel deeply personal, following a narrative detached from the typical luxury offerings and more in tune with the creative heart found in England’s small cities, while the views through those lovely large Georgian windows feel immersive and local, voyeuristic even, with the quiet street and the regal line of houses across.
The Location of No 15 by Guesthouse, Bath
Located on one of Bath’s grander central streets, there are few better locations. It’s also simple to find for travellers new to the city, as it’s just a moment from Bath’s wonderful Pulteney Bridge — one of only four bridges in the world to have shops along its span. And unlike, for example, Florence’s Ponte Vecchio, which is a crowd of jewellers and selfie sticks, there are a few delightful little cafes here and it’s often quiet enough to enjoy a stroll without too much in the way of crowds. Walk away from the city centre across the bridge and onto Pulteney Street and you’ll soon find the pretty streetside entrance to No 15 by Guesthouse.
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