Carved into a Soho courtyard that sat derelict for decades before Kit Kemp and Tim Kemp's Firmdale Hotels transformed it into one of London's most spirited addresses, Ham Yard Hotel opened in 2014 around a central square anchored by a monumental Tony Cragg bronze sculpture — its stacked, organic forms in dialogue with the surrounding contemporary building designed by Stiff + Trevillion. The 91-room, seven-floor property is entirely Kit Kemp's creative vision: an interior designer whose instinct runs toward collision rather than coordination, layering pattern against pattern with a confidence that should not work but consistently does. The rooms demonstrate the range of that approach — one deploys blush pink striped walls against an oversized headboard framed in moss green with chinoiserie fabric, lantern pendants and floral-printed bench upholstery adding further incident; another pairs a vivid red rose-print headboard against grey grasscloth walls, with boldly tiled picture frames and a dress-form used as sculpture. The Crosse Keys bar is the most exuberant space: zigzag murals in coral and magenta sweep across rendered walls, a spiraling amber glass column rises beside the curved dark-wood bar, and a crystal chandelier hangs without apology over a scrubbed farmhouse table. The Potting Shed lounge beneath trails bamboo through a canopy of multicoloured Moroccan-influenced pendants, Gothic plaster arches lining the walls like architectural found objects. Every room feels assembled by someone with genuinely catholic taste.

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