Hotel review: Dublin’s secret townhouse stay, with honesty bar and family-style breakfast

I first stayed in Number 31 in 2016. I was just a visitor to Dublin then, and had yet to spend the night in one of the city’s grand Georgian townhouses. It didn’t take long before I was won over, by the centuries-old carved cornicing on the ceiling, the huge sliding sash windows and the heavy velvet curtains that framed them. It swiftly became one of my favourite hotels in the city. But when it changed ownership in 2017 and was redesigned in 2019, I was worried. Would it still be the subdued, quietly elegant hotel that I’d fallen for? I checked in, eight years later, to find out.

Hidden away off Leeson Street, Number 31 combes a Georgian wing and modern mews with features like an honesty bar and home-cooked breakfast The manicured courtyard at Dublin's Number 31 I first stayed in Number 31 in 2016. I was just a visitor to Dublin then, and had yet to spend the night in one of the city’s grand Georgian townhouses. It didn’t take long before I was won over, by the centuries-old carved cornicing on the ceiling, the huge sliding sash windows and the heavy velvet curtains that framed them.

It swiftly became one of my favourite hotels in the city. But when it changed ownership in 2017 and was redesigned in 2019, I was worried. Would it still be the subdued, quietly elegant hotel that I’d fallen for? I checked in, eight years later, to find out.

Whichever way you play it, the entrance to Number 31 makes for an excellent first impression. Set just off Leeson Street, the thick wooden door to the hotel is hidden in the brick wall, obscured almost entirely by the ivy dripping down like the fringe of a sheepdog. You ring the bell, cross a small courtyard and enter what was the mews of the property, before arriving into the reception area.

It’s an entrance that takes some beating. The setting also means you’re at an ideal halfway point in Dublin — close enough to the action of the city, but among the finest Georgian architecture. 9/10 Join the Irish Independent WhatsApp channel Stay up to date with all the latest news.