#16 in Top 20 London for Business · ★★★★★
The Ned
A former banking hall at Bank turned all-day meeting floor, with a members' club and pool above.
A former banking hall at Bank turned all-day meeting floor, with a members' club and pool above.
The verdict: The Ned is the best base for City of London business, pairing a grand former banking hall of restaurants with the Ned's Club members' club, a rooftop pool and Bank station beneath the building. The trade-off is atmosphere: it is loud and social, not a quiet retreat. Book a Premier room and use the rooftop early.
"An unofficial City club in all but name. The deals get done at a banking-hall lunch, and the day ends in a converted bank vault or the rooftop pool."
Scored on our six-point framework (Romance, Service, Value, Design, Food, Location) and condensed to the three business-relevant axes above. See our scoring methodology for weightings.
It ranks because nothing else in the City pairs this much hosting infrastructure with this location. The Ned opened in 2017 inside the restored former Midland Bank headquarters at 27 Poultry, the 1924 building designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and it is the Soho House group's largest London property. Its ground floor is one of the great public rooms in the City: a soaring banking hall lined with verdite columns and turned into an all-day floor of restaurants and bars where an informal meeting simply happens over a table.
The address is the argument. The Ned sits at Bank, in the heart of the Square Mile, a short walk from the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and the offices of most of the City's finance houses. For a trip built around banking, legal or corporate meetings, few five-star hotels put you closer to your counterparties, and the members'-club culture upstairs means much of the entertaining can be done without leaving the building.
For a work trip, book a Premier room or, for the splurge, a Lutyens-era Heritage room rather than an entry category. The larger rooms give you a proper desk and the space to spread out papers or take a call, and every room carries the hotel's art deco styling of walnut and wrought-iron beds, velvet armchairs and rainforest showers with Cowshed products. Crucially, hotel guests receive Ned's Club access for the duration of their stay, which opens the rooftop pool, the spa and the members' lounges.
Be clear-eyed about the smallest categories. The entry rooms are handsome but genuinely compact, a common note in guest feedback, and the reason we steer business travellers up a tier. If the building's history is the draw, a Heritage room keeps the original 1924 detailing and is the one to request when you want the Ned to feel like more than a bed near the office.
Start the day in the Ned's Club rooftop pool, included with the room, before City meetings begin. For the after-work close, book The Vault, the cocktail bar set inside the building's original steel bank-vault door in the basement, and ask for a table beside the safe-deposit boxes.
The food and drink are the property's strongest business asset, because the choice sits in one place. The banking hall holds a roster of restaurants and bars, including Cecconi's for modern Italian, Millie's for an all-day English brasserie menu, Lutyens Grill for steaks and the Nickel Bar for American classics with live music most evenings. You can run breakfast, a working lunch and a client dinner in three different rooms without stepping outside.
For the memorable close, the basement Vault delivers the setting few City venues can match, and the rooftop Canopy bar and restaurant offers a 360-degree view over the Square Mile for warmer months. The combination means an entire day of meetings, meals and after-work drinks can happen under one roof, which is exactly what makes The Ned efficient for a compressed City trip.
Against its list rivals, The Ned wins on location and the members'-club setting for City work but concedes on calm. The table below places it beside three hotels business travellers commonly weigh against it.
| Hotel | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| The Ned | City and finance meetings; hosting in a members'-club setting | Loud, social atmosphere; compact entry rooms |
| Four Seasons Tower Bridge | Full spa and pool plus riverside City-adjacent meetings | A short ride east of the Square Mile core |
| The London EDITION | Creative, media and tech meetings in Fitzrovia and Soho | West End location; no pool |
| Shangri-La The Shard | Skyline views and a pool, close to London Bridge | Tower isolation; less neighbourhood texture |
The short version: choose The Ned if your meetings are in the Square Mile and you value the club setting; choose Four Seasons Tower Bridge or The London EDITION if you want more calm or a West End base.
Guest sentiment is warm on design, location and the sheer drama of the space, and consistent on two gripes. Across recent verified reviews, travellers repeatedly praise the banking hall, the strength of Cecconi's and the value of the rooftop and spa access, and City business guests single out how naturally the ground floor absorbs a meeting. The recurring complaints are that entry rooms feel small for the price and that the popular public spaces get busy and loud, especially on Nickel Bar music nights. None of this is hidden in our rating; it is why we push work travellers toward a Premier room and a quieter upper floor.
Book about three months ahead and expect entry rooms from around £400 per night, more at peak. Rates climb during the autumn conference season, major City events and the December run-up, when the larger rooms and suites move first. If your dates are flexible, midweek outside those windows tends to offer the best value. Lock a Premier or Heritage room early if you want the space for working, since it is easier to adjust dates than to upgrade a full house on arrival.
Book The Ned if your meetings are in the Square Mile and you want the hosting to happen where you sleep. It is the right base for finance, legal and corporate trips centred on Bank, and for the traveller who values being able to entertain in a members'-club setting without arranging a separate venue. The multi-day visitor gains most, because the roster of banking-hall restaurants gives you a different room for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the rooftop pool and spa turn the downtime into something better than a gym on a mezzanine.
It also suits the guest who enjoys a hotel with a pulse. The Ned is sociable and design-led, full of after-work energy, and for many business travellers that buzz is a feature that makes a solo work trip feel less like a stint in a corporate box. If you like the idea of a nightcap in a converted bank vault after your meetings, this is your hotel.
Skip it if you need calm to work or your meetings sit in the West End. Light sleepers and anyone who wants a hushed, restful base will find the public spaces loud, especially on Nickel Bar music nights, and the entry rooms tight; a quieter option like the Four Seasons at Tower Bridge or the West End London EDITION will serve better. If your counterparties are in Mayfair, Soho or Fitzrovia, the daily commute east adds up, and the City location that is The Ned's strength becomes a drag on your schedule.
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