The flamboyant Soho hotel graced by Taylor Swift & Dua Lipa (& maybe you)

Few quarters of London provide as much entertainment as Soho. This charismatic neighbourhood has long lured an assortment of characters — Giacomo Casanova, Karl Marx, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse are among those to have roamed its narrow alleys and streets.

Although some Londoners complain Soho isn’t as sleazy or exciting as it once was — too gentrified, too polished, they crow — it still retains zip and zest like few other places in Europe, its narrow streets and alleys bulging with bars, pubs, coffeehouses, restaurants, markets, sex shops, fashion boutiques and vinyl stores.

One of the most incredible things about Broadwick Soho — and there are many — is that when you’re inside this charming hotel it can be easy to forget you’re in one of London’s most animated districts.

The 57 guest rooms and suites are cocoons of tranquillity, boosted by the triple-glazed windows of this newbuild block, which rises on the corner of Broadwick and Berwick streets.

It’s five minutes on foot from the new Tottenham Court Road station, where the slick Elizabeth Line trains hurry to and from Heathrow Airport.

Staying in Soho, the delights of the West End, its theatres and department stores, fantastic (free) galleries and museums, Chinatown and Covent Garden, are your oyster.

But so enchanting is Broadwick Soho and its flamboyant interior design - which infuses both the rooms and public areas - that you may also find yourself whiling away many of your waking hours here (in addition to those you’ll be spending asleep, enveloped in the Frette Italian-made bed linen with cosy feather and down duvets and pillows). Guest rooms cover a range of sizes and price slots.

Even the 18sqm Standard rooms - priced from around $850 night; expensive, but not outrageously so for a five-star central London hotel — are a perfectly-arranged melange of artworks, fabrics, wood, marble, Murano glass and Ortigia Sicilia gels.

Masterminded by the Swedish-born, London-based architect Martin Brudnizki, the brains behind other trendy hotels, such as Le Grand Mazarin in Paris, the design becomes ever more elaborate - and the prices higher — as you zoom up through the categories, with suites, from about $2000, lavished with maximalist wallpaper and brass elephants containing minibars.

Top of the tree, the 89sqm one-bedroom penthouse goes for about $8000 a night — though it does have numerous perks, including enough wardrobe space for an entourage and four works by Francis Bacon, a 20th century Irish-British artist who used to hang out in Soho.

I’m told the pop singer Dua Lipa recently did a fashion shoot in this suite for Vogue magazine. Other A-listers to have glided through the hotel’s pink front door have included Taylor Swift and Hans Zimmer — not at the same time, mind you.

They dined at Dear Jackie, the hotel’s basement restaurant, named after Jackie, mother of hotel owner Noel Hayden, who conjured the idea for Broadwick Soho with a group of creatively-minded close friends.

Mr Hayden took ideas from his travels, and also from his childhood when his parents ran a hotel, Mon Ami, in Bournemouth on England’s south coast.

Dear Jackie has cocktails inspired by the films of Federico Fellini, a wine list starring Italian (and other) tipples, and food that sees Britain meet Sicily, fusing ingredients sourced from this country with influences from the European continent.

It’s moodily-lit (quite dark) in the restaurant tonight but the vibe is elevated by the midweek buzz, the chummy service and the dishes - Devon crab with tomatoes and basil, Hereford beef fillet with fried potatoes and gorgonzola sauce, and chocolate and peanut brittle with banana ice cream.

For three courses and drinks, reckon on forking out between $150-250 a person.

Food and drinks are also served at Bar Jackie, a more casual street-level affair (where the next morning I’ll tuck into a full English breakfast; $34).

On the rooftop, there’s Flute, a bar named after a 19th-century flute-maker that once traded on Broadwick Street. Cocktails here are inspired by films shot around Soho - including Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut - but I plump for a digestif, a limoncello. On the wall there’s an image of Noel Hayden as a boy with his father, a showman and magician as well as a hotelier.

Looking out over Soho, jazzy tunes in the air, the sparkling lights of the city and the spokes of the London Eye catch my gaze in the distance. The bar’s outside wraparound terrace seems like a pleasant spot for the warmer months (I’m here in mid winter).

Arguably the most seductive space across the entire hotel is The Nook, a lounge for guests next to Bar Jackie. It’s a gloriously-decorated hideaway with velvet chairs and sofas, textile-clad walls, sub-nooks, books galore and a fireplace. There’s also a vinyl player with a stack of records from musicians to have played, partied and recorded in Soho.

Grace Jones’ voice is booming around The Nook when I exit and wander past reception, out that pink front door and into the throng of Soho.

NB A word of praise for the concierge team, a friendly bunch, dressed in suitably flamboyant attire, patterned waistcoats and bow ties. They’re happy to share tips about the neighbourhood and some of the stories behind Broadwick Soho, pointing out cool design touches and artworks — a Bacon, a Warhol, a Bridget Riley — that might otherwise pass you by. The hotel has more than 300 pieces of art from the owner’s private art collection, flea-market finds and specially-commissioned works. + Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Britain and Broadwick Soho. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication. fact file + To book a room or table at Broadwick Soho, see broadwicksoho.com + For more information on visiting London and Britain, see visitlondon.com and visitbritain.com