The Reading Rooms – Margate

31 Hawley Square, Margate, Kent, CT9 1PH
+44 (0)1843 225166
www.thereadingroomsmargate.co.uk
Review by Sarah Jappy

I’ll never forget our stay at the Reading Rooms. I can’t forget it – after returning from the elegant Margate hotel, my boyfriend took a scraper to our walls, and worried off all the wallpaper. We now have one peach-coloured, distressed wall, with tattered strips of the previous owners’ florals clinging on for dear life.

My man was aiming for the effect of the hotel’s room three (it would be churlish of me to comment on how far he’d succeeded). Weird as it may sound, this room’s inspirational wall occupied a lot of our attention during our stay. Dusky blue, with soft sandy arcs and grainy white whirls, the exposed wall provided a striking backdrop to the princely breakfasts, and added a splash of muted colour to a luxurious expanse of white.

Of course, there’s a lot more to this hotel than a wonderful wall. Owners Louise and Liam have all the laid-back cool you’d expect from their former (Hackney) postcode. While their boutique B&B is a world away from scruffy, it certainly has creative flair: opulent La Maison beds, glittering art deco chandeliers, retro furnishings – old-fashioned shaving mirrors, and a novelist’s stash of tangerine-coloured Penguin Classics.

The rooms (there are just three) are palatial, which makes the lack of communal space irrelevant. Louise and Liam remain in the background, merely appearing to deliver their dazzling breakfast: perfectly judged boiled eggs, generous full English, jewel-coloured fruit salads, air-light pastries and so on. When we were here, we circled almost every option on the breakfast form, and ploughed through each delicious dish with relish.

The Reading Room’s breakfast certainly sets you up well for a day of Margate exploring. This is useful, as there’s plenty to see here, even in the absence of the Tate Contemporary (due to open later this year). We started with a trip to the mysterious Shell Grotto, browsed the vintage and antique shops (RG Scott and Madame Popoff being among our favourites), stopped for cider and sausage rolls in the characterful Lifeboat Ale & Cider House, and finished off with dinner at the incredible local Indian restaurant, the Ambrette. 

We’ve already penciled in a return trip because the Mad Hatter’s tea room was closed and we didn’t make it to the cupcake shop in time. (On the subject of restaurants, I’d like to mention Osteria Posillipo, whose seafood pasta transported us from the British seaside to Sardinia in seconds.)

So – the Reading Rooms: beautifully styled, refreshingly relaxed, and the ideal boutique base-camp for exploring Margate’s charms. Start saving now.