Brown's Hotel

Caroline the maid

The story told about Brown's is of a maid named Caroline who fell from a window in the 19th century. Whether it was an accident or something worse was never established. Guests describe a figure in the corridors and the sound of furniture being moved in rooms next door that turn out to be empty.

Kipling's typewriter

Rudyard Kipling stayed at Brown's often. The hotel's ghost guides say the clatter of a typewriter can be heard from rooms he used, even when no one is in them.

We haven't found first-hand reports of either story yet. If you've stayed at Brown's and noticed something, let us know.

Brown's was founded in 1837 by James Brown, a former valet to Lord Byron, and his wife Sarah, who had been a lady's maid. It grew to fill a row of Georgian townhouses on Albemarle Street and Dover Street. Alexander Graham Bell is said to have made Britain's first telephone call from the hotel in 1876, and Theodore Roosevelt stayed there when he married in London in 1886. Agatha Christie is widely believed to have based At Bertram's Hotel on it.

• The hotel is in Mayfair, a few minutes' walk from Green Park station.
• Afternoon tea in the English Tea Room is a way to visit without staying the night.