Rough luxury at King's Cross

Where to stay in London? Well, somewhere that gives us easy access to the city's bus and Underground network would be useful. Better still if it's just across the road from the King's Cross train station, and a minute's walk from St. Pancras station, home of the Eurostar service. Welcome to the Rough Luxe hotel, which describes itself as "A little bit of luxury in a rough part of London; a little bit of rough in a luxurious London."

This "half rough, half luxury" hotel comes with bare floorboards, unpainted walls and, sometimes, shared bathrooms. Clearly, Rough Luxe does things differently. The concept is the brainchild of designer Rabih Hage, who wanted to make sure that the bed linen, wine list, furniture, art and the service were luxurious, while the look and feel of the old building that he converted into Rough Luxe remained original.

All the rooms have WiFi access and most rooms are equipped with SkypePhones that let guests make free Skype-to-Skype calls and send free Skype instant messages. What about television? Here's the Rough Luxe policy: "A few of our rooms have televisions — we decided that as you are in one of the most exciting capital cities in the world, you probably wouldn't need one — but you can usually have one if you really want one."

ADDRESS: Rough Luxe, 1 Birkenhead Street, London WC1H.

LINK: Rough Luxe