Rightly or wrongly (well, if we’re honest, rightly) so, the serviced apartment has long been considered the dowdier cousin of the more illustrious Grand Hotel. They were usually only contemplated for their suite-like space, one suspects, for the ability to rustle up a meal in the confines of a closet-like kitchen.

In recent years, however, the distinction between the two has become increasingly blurred, with both hotels and serviced apartments converging on the centre ground. So while hotels have expanded their appeal with more apartment like suites, serviced apartments, or ‘residences’ as they are increasingly known, have begun to offer the sort of luxurious amenities more usually associated with the five-star hotel; the destination bars and designer restaurants, the spas and the gyms. Nowhere is this metamorphosis more apparent than at the Taj Suites and Residences at 51 Buckingham Gate. 

Located a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace (not that we’re inciting revolution, here), the Taj inhabits an enclosed courtyard, an ‘inner sanctum’ blissfully screened from the city’s constant drone. Its 86 suites boast not only five-star luxury and design, but with an average size of 51 metres (squared) they are also by far the largest suites available in central London. And if, heaven forbid, you should choose to forego the use of their fully-fitted and spacious kitchens, the Residences are more than capable of satisfying the most demanding of culinary requirements from one of four on-site restaurants, including the Michelin-starred, Quilon.