In the aftermath of the office bombing and their roadtrip to Whitstable, Leeds and Cambridge, Strike and Robin return to London and take rooms at the Z Hotel Tottenham Court Road, in Soho.

Z Hotels is a budget chain of hotels, many of which are located in Central London.

The Z Hotel Tottenham Court Road is on Poland Street, Soho, a few minutes walk from Denmark Street. It has 121 rooms on six floors, with reception on the ground floor.

Strike decides to hold a catch-up meeting with all the members of the agency, and this takes place in the café of the hotel. Pat is the last to arrive. “When she cast a look of disfavour at the triangular stool she was supposed to sit on, Strike got up to offer Pat the sofa, at which she growled, ‘I can manage a stool, I’m not decrepit yet,’ and sat down, pulling furiously on her e-cigarette” (The Ink Black Heart, Chapter 88).

In Chapter 88, Strike returns to the hotel with his newly-purchased bottle of whisky. He walks past Robin’s room towards his own, and then Robin opens her door and speaks to him.

Robin asks him inside and they both sit on the bed and discuss the Anomie case.

Robin finds her room, which is decorated in shades of grey “both cramped and unpleasantly soulless.”  Strike, however, is happy at the hotel. “He preferred his spaces clean, uncluttered and utilitarian; and the cramped conditions were useful for times when he wasn’t wearing his prosthetic leg” (The Ink Black Heart, Chapter 86).

Robin has only one glass, so Strike goes to his room to fetch another, and they both sit on the bed and drink whisky whilst continuing to discuss the case.

For more information about and pictures of the Z Hotel on Poland Street, see their website www.thezhotels.com/hotels/tottenham-court-road

Find the Z Hotel Tottenham Court Road on the map below:

Address:  52-53 Poland Street, London W1F 7NH