Drakes Hotel

About Drakes Hotel

Drakes fills two nineteenth-century mansions at 43 and 44 Marine Parade, on the raised seafront road just east of the Palace Pier where Brighton starts to become Kemptown. It was one of the first properly designed boutique hotels in the city and has held its reputation by staying small - twenty rooms - and by getting the details right rather than by expanding.

The rooms vary a good deal, from compact doubles at the back to the well-known sea-view rooms where a freestanding bath sits in the curve of the bay window looking out over the Channel and the pier. Wrought-iron balconies, high ceilings and shuttered sash windows come with the buildings; the fittings are modern and understated, with proper lighting and good beds. Rooms at the top have the widest views along the coast.

Downstairs, Dilsk is the hotel restaurant, working with Sussex produce and a lot of fish, and there is a small basement cocktail bar that stays quiet enough for a conversation. Breakfast is cooked to order rather than laid out in a buffet, which is one of the small differences that separates a hotel of this size from the seafront giants.

It suits couples above all. The Royal Pavilion, the pier, The Lanes and the Sea Lanes swimming pool are all within about five to ten minutes on foot, and Kemptown's independent shops and restaurants begin immediately to the east. There is no lift to every floor in buildings of this age, no spa and no parking beyond metered bays on Marine Parade, so it is a poor fit for anyone with heavy luggage or mobility difficulties.