What do you really want from a hotel room? Prepare to change your way of thinking if you stay at the Assembly hotel on the edges of Covent Garden and Leicester Square.
Set in the heart of the throbbing theatre district of the capital, we're told the look and feel of this hotel is inspired by bold British designers Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Gareth Pugh - and it resembles a nightclub with its neon lightbox signage and dark corridors.
Our chic and ultra-modern room was diminutive, and probably the size of a closet in some swanky suite, but size isn’t everything.
We didn’t have a TV, but why on earth would you come to London to watch the telly, especially when we've managed to whiz down to the capital with Virgin Trains in just a couple of hours?
The hotel doesn’t have a gym but why do you need one when you can pull on your trainers and go for a run in St James’ Park or go for a stroll along The Mall? Or just get out there and explore the capital.
And if we hadn't got the message even the key card to our room bore the message ‘Get In, Then Get Out’.'
"Baby doll, you need some rock and roll!" exclaimed a picture on our wall.
What you might think your room might be lacking, it makes up for with lots of plug sockets for charging your phone, super comfy bedding and a waterfall shower. And we had a stunning view out over London including the London Eye.
A cute pink plastic rabbit in the corner of the room (and who doesn't want one of those?) doubled as a handy place to hang our jackets while hanging space for clothes is neatly compacted to rails at the side of the bed.
Realising that I’d forgotten to pack my trusty travel iron (rumpled clothes just won’t do for a night out in the bright lights of London) I had a brief panic, until I sheepishly asked for one at front desk.
“We wouldn’t be a hotel if we didn’t have an iron” I was reassured. Phew. There are some things I just can’t do without.
A steam iron and board was sent up to the room within minutes and problem solved. It's the little things that matter sometimes.
Ready to hit the town, we headed up in the lift to the B&H Garden Room rooftop bar and restaurant, which has panoramic views on the 10th floor of Assembly and where you can enjoy breakfast through to cocktails.
We hadn't booked for dinner here, but we enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and watching the sun set over the rooftops of London over a drink as post-work diners arrived for their Friday evening.
Assembly is just a short walk from Soho, where we had dined a couple of times before and were looking forward to returning to one of our favourite restaurants, Suvlaki on Bateman Street which excels in authentic and extremely tasty Greek street food.
I had the corn fed chicken with pickled red cabbage in a thick, pillowy wrap and my husband chose the Mount Olympus wild boar with slaw and aubergine wrap. Both were absolutely delicious.
The next morning we basked in the sunshine in the rooftop restaurant, satisfying our stomachs with our breakfasts of London smoked salmon and scrambled egg and crushed avocado and roasted tomato both served on sourdough toast
Following the tourist trail we headed to Leicester Square just around the corner and were drawn by the smell of chocolate (not that we were still hungry) into M&M's World before heading on to nearby Covent Garden.
With our Oyster cards topped-up we decided to head further afield and jumped on the tube to the charming Notting Hill and Portobello Road, the world’s largest antiques market, to do some more browsing and shopping.
Back at Covent Garden our thoughts turned to food, and specifically pizza for lunch.
We were intrigued by Pizza Pilgrims, whose team spent six weeks on a 'pizza pilgrimage' and learning their crust driving a van through Italy.
The menu at this walk-in restaurant even teaches you how to eat pizza 'like a Neapolitan' by folding quarters of the floppy treat into a tasty pointy shovel. But I stuck with the traditional knife and fork as I devoured every tasty morsel of my marinara.
A brisk walk to Trafalgar Square to view Nelson's Column helped to walk off our lunch, and no trip to London would be complete without soaking up some culture so we headed next door to the National Gallery before catching our train home to Manchester.
Passing through Leicester Square for one last look around, we spotted a large crowd following someone down the street and realised it was the singer Olly Murs there for the launch of the ITV show The Voice.
That's the great thing about London. You never know who you might bump into and no visit is ever the same.
Guests can book a room at the Assembly directly from the Assembly London website and the starting room rate is £150.
Virgin Trains fares start from £24 each way. The journey time between Euston and Manchester is two hours and five minutes. Visit virgintrains.com
