Step outside under the cheerfully striped awning, and the huge horseshoe bar makes it clear that this princess knows how to have a good time, while the lobsters and other shellfish piled on beds of ice behind show that food is very serious is taken.
But you’ll be drawn to the conservatory and garden beyond, which is covered in sunken cushions and deep-diving chairs, plants, and the promise of a sunny experience even on a cloudy day. The locals were already starting to take tables when I arrived early.
In the last 100 years this building has been transformed from a pub to a boutique hotel. Located in the heart of Notting Hill’s most desirable corner, it is surrounded by white stucco villas on Hereford Road and the restaurants and boutiques of Westbourne Grove.
Good time girls: Sarah Turner has checked into The Princess Royal. “This princess knows how to have a good time,” she writes
Above is the Margaret Room – one of four guest rooms in the hotel. Hotel’s decor “feels like a charming evocation of the countryside”
Sarah stayed in the Diana room (above) and described the bed as “bucket deep” and the walk-in shower “gorgeous”.
With the opening, the small Cubitt group now has a family of delightful food-focused pubs in desirable London enclaves including Belgravia, Marylebone and Knightsbridge.
Not all of them have bedrooms, but this one does, and they’re not afterthoughts.
Decor here, as in the bar and restaurant, is by owner Georgie Pearman, who runs the Cubitt group with her husband, and my room in a leafy part of London feels like an enchanting evocation of the countryside.
The bedrooms can be reached by walking past the ‘Loos’ sign in the pub. Pictured is the Lilibet room
The Alexandra Room. The property is furnished by owner Georgie Pearman and her husband
A freestanding bath in one of the guest rooms
There’s an upholstered headboard with ticking stripes, moss-colored reading lamps, and Soane’s Osmunda Silhouette wallpaper sans chintz, and some antique furniture.
The beds are bucket deep with really big bedside tables.
At the end of the bed is a freestanding bath, but also a delightful walk-in shower.
The four bedrooms here are accessed by walking past the ‘Loos’ sign and when I came out of mine there was a woman in the corridor. “I can’t go to the Margaret,” she said, fumbling with her key.
I was in Diana, the others are called Lilibet and Alexandra. I wonder why Anne didn’t make it.
Above is the “huge” horseshoe bar. “Chef Ben Tish’s food is a very serious draw,” says Sarah
The conservatory and garden (above) are “covered with sunken cushions and deep plunge chairs, plants and the promise of a sunny experience even on a cloudy day”.
Sarah ate an appetizer of British burrata, radicchio and blood oranges, followed by an Old Spot pork chop with turnips and walnuts
A portion of Princess Royal oysters on beds of ice (left). Pictured on the right is the bathroom in the Alexandra room
Chef Ben Tish’s food is a very serious draw; He has a long association with the Cubitt Group and oversees dining at the Stafford in St James. In W11 it feels like there is a cultural exchange between the Cotswolds and Tuscany.
My British burrata starter, along with radicchio and blood oranges, had coriander seeds to add attitude and an extra layer of deliciousness.
An Old Spot pork chop with beets and walnuts was earthy without being heavy, while an attempt to show restraint with just petit fours for pudding wilted with squares of passion fruit jellies and chocolate fudge.
The next morning Diana gave me an excellent night’s sleep; Comfort levels are very 21st century and soundproofing is superb.
Breakfasts come in both continental strength — although the pastries displayed at the bar are particularly louche and large — and a full English breakfast.
Fashionably modern additions of almond milk porridge with rhubarb, dates and molasses and green tomato juice complete the feeling that the Princess Royal knows how to face the morning and everything else with aplomb.
