The City and London Bridge: hotels that go quiet when the week does

Two tempos in the Square Mile

From Monday to Thursday, the City of London is one of the busiest square miles in the country. Its hotels are full of bankers, lawyers and underwriters, the lobbies are full of meetings, and the bars stay full until late. On Friday evening it empties. By Saturday the streets east of St Paul's are close to silent, many restaurants shut until Monday, and the hotels fill their rooms with guests who are there precisely because it is quiet.

Both tempos suit an evening guest, for opposite reasons. On a weekday, nobody notices one more person in a crowded lobby. At the weekend, there is nobody there to notice.

East of St Paul's

The City's hotels are mostly grand banking and shipping buildings given a second life, plus a handful of new towers. All of them keep a desk staffed through the night.

Across the bridge to SE1

Over London Bridge, Shangri-La The Shard fills the tower from the 34th floor up to the 52nd, with views that make any evening feel like an occasion and a bar near the very top. At the foot of it, the London Bridge Hotel is an independent house a few steps from the station, and the Hilton London Tower Bridge stands among the offices of More London beside the river. West along Bankside, the Hilton London Bankside and citizenM Bankside are close to Tate Modern.

London Bridge is livelier than the City at weekends, thanks to Borough Market and the riverside, but its hotels are just as practical: large, modern, staffed through the night and used to guests arriving late off trains from the south.

Converted banks or glass towers

The City's hotels divide neatly by age, and the division matters for a visit. The converted buildings, The Ned, Ten Trinity Square and the Andaz, have high ceilings, wide staircases and corridors that can run a long way from the lift: grand to walk, and easy to get lost in. Give the desk the floor and the wing as well as the room number, and she will not spend five minutes touring the building.

The newer towers are simpler inside and stricter at the lift. Expect key card access to the guest floors, which means meeting her in the lobby or collecting a second key at check-in. What the towers give back is height: a room on a high floor, looking over the Gherkin and the lit windows of Bishopsgate, is its own reason to spend an evening in.

The weekday visit, after the client dinner

A weekday booking in the City usually follows a client dinner. The table clears at ten, the taxi drops you back at eleven, and the knock is wanted soon after. Message the desk from the dinner, before the bill arrives, with the hotel and a time. The City is Zone 1, so there is no fare to add, and Henrietta will time the arrival so that you reach the room first.

If she is joining the dinner itself, the ballroom and boardroom format fits: a composed plus one at the client table, briefed beforehand, who judges when to speak and when to leave the table to its business.

The weekend stay

The weekend is when the City becomes the best kept secret among London hotels. Corridors are empty, lifts arrive at once, and breakfast can run late without anyone hovering for the table. A weekend overnight, ten hours at £1,800, fits the district perfectly: dinner on Saturday somewhere across the river, a walk back over London Bridge, then a slow morning.

On Saturday morning Borough Market is a short walk from the London Bridge hotels, and the Thames Path runs along both banks for an easy stroll before checkout.

Getting in after dark

The City is well served until late. Bank and Monument sit at its centre, Liverpool Street on its northern edge, St Paul's and Mansion House to the west, London Bridge across the river. The Central line runs all night on Fridays and Saturdays through Bank, as does the Jubilee through London Bridge, so a guest who has been out elsewhere can come back without hunting for a cab.

For the companion none of this changes the arrangement. Every City and SE1 hotel sits inside Zone 1, and she arrives by taxi at the minute the desk confirmed.

Who makes the journey east

Nobody on the rota has a home inside the Square Mile, which is what you would expect of a district with so few residents. The nearest live in Covent Garden: Nancy, golden blonde and sunny, who swims her lengths before the shops open, and Tina, small, quick and sharply dressed. Both reach a City hotel quickly by taxi. For a poised dinner partner, the blondes shortlist is a good place to begin.

The City of London and London Bridge pages list stations and hotels in full, and the rates page sets out each length in pounds.