The City's first boutique hotel - what's that like, then? Is it drawing in hip young traders?

Not unless they are at the top end of the corporate food chain with loads of money to burn. Think Terence Conran meets Gordon Gekko.

Stylish, is it?

Contemporary classic, I think they call it. No expense appears to have been spared in the £19 million conversion of the former Midland Bank into a 70-room luxury hotel. The foyer is dominated by a magnificent hand-painted glass dome ceiling. Along with the original solid oak doors and marble columns, modern art, plush geometric carpeting, glass and chrome and ersatz wood panelling abound. There's a predominance of brown leather - even the walls and floor of the lifts are lined with it - and lots of soft beige, grey and cream tones, with splashes of warm apricot and vermilion to keep it from having too male a feel. Low lighting from geometric cream lamp shades and little style touches - such as three polished apples in a glass bowl picking up on the green in the curtains - add to a Zen mood.

What are the rooms like?

All that Gordon Gekko - and Catherine Zeta Jones, for that matter - could desire. While Gordon follows his shares on the plasma television screen and barks orders into the cordless digital telephone, Catherine could be soaking in the limestone-floored bathroom and indulging in the 'bath menu' of champagne, rose petals and strawberries and cream (£15) while watching a soap opera on the specially designed bathroom television screen. There's even a remote-controlled CD player and a library of CDs to choose from. The only missing element from a female perspective is a vanity mirror.

Does this luxury have a hefty price tag?

I'll say. During the week, standard doubles start at £265 and climb to a stratospheric £790 for a suite (I won't even tell you what the two- and four-bedroom suites command). But weekend rates are heavily discounted. Until January you can live like George Soros for a night for £155 plus Vat for a standard, deluxe or executive-class double, including breakfast and a bottle of champagne. The restaurant, Bonds, is separately managed and features dishes such as lasagne of squab pigeon, wild mushrooms and black pudding, with main courses starting at £17.50. Bonds isn't open for lunch or dinner at the weekend, but the very generous breakfast (go for the continental) will see you through a fair part of the day.

· Threadneedles, 5 Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8AY (020 7657 8080). Standard double room is £300 per room per night, discount rate over Christmas and New Year is £185.