These days by 11.30pm it's standing room only in Bar 190, a raffish new haunt (dark panelling, sinful red and chocolate leather) at The Gore hotel which, fresh from a £2.5 million refurb, is preening in its new finery.
Something of a Kensington institution, The Gore has always prided itself on pulling off what many country house hotels fail to do - it makes you feel instantly at home, as if you've gone to stay with an eccentric uncle for the weekend. Thankfully, post-upgrade, that hasn't changed. Neither has the sumptuousness of some of the more, er, theatrical, suites, such as the Venus Room with a bed that once belonged to Judy Garland, or Dame Nellie, named after the Australian opera singer. Standard and superior rooms have been carefully coaxed into a more modern appearance by reinstating original room proportions and emphasising the space with a paint palette of Georgian "stone" pink, magenta and pea green, pale silks and embroidered linens and mahogany four-posters and half-testers.
A new chef, 32-year-old Mark Blatchford, hot off the red eye from Soho House New York, is delivering "signature comfort food" in Restaurant 190, next to the bar. The most popular drink in Bar 190 is a totally home-grown concoction of gin, elderflower cordial and cucumber called The English Allotment. Chin chin.
· The Gore (020-7584 6601, gorehotel.co.uk) 189 Queen's Gate, London SW7. Doubles from £140 per night B&B.
