'Just the job for a city-break hotel' with 'decent rooms, handy car park, sensible prices' and 'helpful staff', this former youth hostel has swapped backpackers' basics for boutique chic. On the corner of a Georgian terrace, it overlooks the People's Park, with its Victorian bandstand and towering Rice Monument. It is filled with period pieces, chandeliers and elegant decor, with a spa in the vaulted basement, and a small kitchen garden. Four glamorous bedrooms in the main house are named after former Pery Square residents, each with original features, a handmade brass-and-gilt bed, a roll-top copper bath and monsoon shower. Three have park views; three overlook the kitchen garden and dining terrace. A converted rates office links the original townhouse to a new extension, where smart, contemporary rooms have super-king or king-size bed and monsoon shower. All have Voya organic toiletries, robes, slippers, room service. A short menu of food such as steamed mussels with crab claws and prawns or braised pork belly is served in the Long Room, with lunches from Mon–Sat and dinners Thurs–Sat. Outside, the unusual Container Garden is home to repurposed items such as a 1950s Ford Perfect, a petrol pump and a fridge.