Three knocked-through Georgian townhouses on Great Pulteney Street, 40 individually decorated rooms by Martin Hulbert Design, the Dispensary bar in a former apothecary, and a basement spa with a hammam — Bath's most considered modern boutique.
"The most quietly stylish room you can book in Bath without crossing into the Royal Crescent's price tier — three townhouses on Great Pulteney Street, every room a Martin Hulbert curiosity cabinet, and a basement spa that genuinely surprises."
No.15 by GuestHouse occupies three knocked-through Georgian townhouses at numbers 13, 14 and 15 Great Pulteney Street — the broadest Georgian thoroughfare in Bath, designed in 1789 as the connector between the Holburne Museum and Pulteney Bridge. The hotel opened in 2017 as part of the GuestHouse group (sister property No.124 in Brighton; latterly the GuestHouse Brighton and the GuestHouse York), and was completely conceived by interior designer Martin Hulbert, who treated the project as a single story across three buildings — a curiosity cabinet of British design, antique purchases, eccentric collectables and Hulbert's own joinery and wallpaper choices. There is no part of this hotel that has been left to a generic specification.
There are 40 rooms across the three houses, divided into Small, Bigger, Large, Pulteney and Superior Pulteney categories. Small rooms occupy the original servants' attic spaces with bird's-eye views of Great Pulteney Street; Bigger and Large rooms run across the wider lower floors; the Pulteney rooms are individually titled (the Map Room, the Library, the Bird Room) with Hulbert's most intricate decoration; the Superior Pulteney rooms are 30-square-metre Junior Suites with a sitting area and Pulteney Street facing windows. Every room contains genuine collectables Hulbert sourced from antiques fairs, secondhand bookshops and his personal collection. Bathrooms are generous; the larger categories have freestanding bath tubs in the room itself.
The Dispensary is the hotel's bar and lounge, set in a former Edwardian pharmacy on the ground floor — original glass-fronted apothecary cabinets, a long marble counter and a cocktail programme that includes house infusions, period gin selections and a "tonic of the day". The all-day kitchen turns out a serious British breakfast, light lunches, an afternoon-tea programme and casual dinner; for serious dining the property's preferred recommendation is the Olive Tree at the Queensberry, a four-minute walk away. The basement spa is the hotel's quiet asset — a small but properly built operation with a hammam, sauna, steam room, ice fountain and four treatment rooms, drawing on the Pulteney natural water table.
Great Pulteney Street puts the hotel one minute on foot from Pulteney Bridge, three from the Roman Baths, four from the Theatre Royal, and five from Bath Spa station — the most efficient address in central Bath after Beau Street. For weekend stays where design coherence and a credible spa matter, where you do not need a swimming pool or a five-star service ratio, and where you appreciate a hotel that has been thought about rather than supplied, No.15 is the obvious choice in Bath.
For the considered anniversary that prefers small over grand, the Pulteney rooms (the Map Room, the Library) are the city's most photographed boutique units. Cocktails in the Dispensary, dinner at the Olive Tree four minutes away, basement-spa couples treatment, breakfast in the all-day kitchen. The hotel's anniversary package includes a treatment, the cocktail menu and breakfast.
No.15 understands solo travellers — the Small rooms are properly sized for one (rare in five-stars), the Dispensary takes a single guest at the bar without making it a thing, and the spa runs treatments specifically calibrated for solo bookings. Combine with a writing-retreat itinerary at the Bath Library or a research trip to the Holburne Museum at the end of Great Pulteney Street.
A more intimate Bath honeymoon than the Royal Crescent and a more design-led one than the Gainsborough — a Pulteney room with a freestanding bath, dinner at the Olive Tree, the basement hammam, the bar at the Dispensary. Honeymoons here split the difference between London-boutique design and country-house calm.
13-15 Great Pulteney Street
Bath BA2 4BS
United Kingdom
Pulteney Bridge 1 minute; Roman Baths 3 minutes; Theatre Royal 4 minutes; Bath Spa station 5 minutes
40 rooms
Small from £245/night
Bigger from £290
Large from £340
Pulteney rooms from £420
Superior Pulteney from £540/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Three Georgian townhouses (1789); opened 2017; designed by Martin Hulbert; GuestHouse Hotels
The Dispensary bar (former apothecary)
All-day British kitchen
Basement spa with hammam
Individually decorated rooms
Genuine antiques in every room
Free WiFi; on-site parking £25/day
From £245/night. Pulteney rooms and Superior Pulteney rooms book three months ahead for spring weekends; six weeks for the rest of the inventory.
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