Library Bar at The Lanesborough Hotel

The Library Bar at The Lanesborough hotel is a perfect place to relax with a drink to the sound of the grand piano – immerse yourself in the memory of an almost forgotten era of refinement and sophistication. It may be expensive, but it's worth it.

Very disappointed!

The Library Bar used to be a wonderful example of perfect service set in a room that brings to mind a Gentleman's club. A quintessentially British experience.

Sadly the charming Brits have been replaced by smarmy Italians, the worst of whom is managing the door. Not only do they seem to have a select seating policy – not previously the case (so expact to be seated in a lack-lustre annex if the bar is busy), but the previously crisp and courtious service has been replaced by a mediterranian indifference that whilst maintaining an efficiency, can just as easily be found in any club or bar on the high street.

I called the Lanesborough to book a table in the Library Bar a month early, but on arrival was met with a rude and irritable little man who physically blocked our way to the bar and insisted that it ‘was not possible’ that I had left a booking.

Not the place that I remember; go to the Connaught.