A Slice Of Cool In The Big Smoke (The Hoxton Hotel (London))

Member Name: nykied

Product:	The Hoxton Hotel (London)
Date:	09/11/09 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's different from the usual hotel chains

Disadvantages: None

Having stayed in London three times in the last three years, my choices then were based on hotels near the London Marathon start, so I could have an easy travel to the start, so when we were due to go down in London for a hen do, I decided I wanted something more fun as a base.

Having researched some hotels on the internet, we chose to stay at The Hoxton Urban Lodge. It has had some good reviews written on the internet and their website looked good also. Having to book it beforehand though, meant that we had to pay for the rooms in advance, which cost us about £100 per room, with two people staying in each. This meant that we couldn't wait for one of their £1 sales, when they sell a night in the hotel for the princely sum of £1 (visit their website and register your email address for updates). But still, it was booked and we travelled down.

Arriving from the train station (we came from Liverpool Street Station and it cost us about £5 in a taxi), we walked in through the front doors and entered the lobby. It was bright and spacious, with seating areas filled with what looked like very comfortable, squashy sofas. Checking in was nice and easy and, as we'd arrived after the 2pm check-in time, we didn't have to wait for our rooms.

Despite having all made the bookings together, each room we'd booked was on a different floor. Which meant that we could at least see each floor, which was interesting, as each floor was lit in a different colour. Anyway, the room. Each room was basically the same and was nothing special really. There are either twin or double rooms to choose from when you book, although the double rooms only have a queen-sized bed rather than a double. The redeeming feature in the rooms was the cushions. They were fantastic! Big square cushions, with 'rock', 'paper' or 'scissors' on with the relevant hand gestures. I loved them and they were certainly different.

Once we'd checked in and got settled, it was time for dinner. We chose to eat in the hotel restaurant as it was convenient. There are two sections in the restaurant, with one section having booth-type seating and one section being a more formal dining area. As there were eight of us, we chose the booths, as we could all sit at the same table. We ordered from the 'Bites and Tubs' menu, which consists of little dishes similar to a meze, which costs £10 for five dishes. This was delicious, with items such as calamari, sausages, garlic bread, potato wedges and chicken skewers.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was nice and relaxed and as it's connected to the bar, it's an easy transition between the two (we were on a hen do - what do you expect??!). The bar area has varied seating, including the squashy sofas and yes, they were very comfortable indeed! There's also a round 'beer garden', in that the hotel in built with a hole in the centre so that there's an open air bit within the hotel, where people can smoke. This area is very nice, with old fashioned chairs and tables which are also very comfortable, and it's nice to be sat in the open air, surrounded by trees and plants, yet still sheltered from any wind.

The bar can be quite expensive, as we found out after returning from our night out, when the hen decided to order eight shots. The barman decided to give her shots that cost £9 each and they certainly didn't look as though they had THAT much alcohol in them! Luckily, we managed to haggle them down a little. Well, a lot. So do be careful if going to the bar after a night out.

For breakfast the next morning, we opted for the Lite Pret Breakfast, which is included in the room price. There's a brown paper bag on the side in the room and leaving that on your room door handle means that it's delivered to your room in the morning. It consists of an orange juice, a banana and a granola yogurt pot. The yogurt pot is pretty disgusting, but if you like that sort of thing, you may like it. There's also water and fresh milk left in the room fridge, which is also included in the cost of the room and which I felt was a nice touch.

If you want anything else, there's a mini-supermarket across the road which sells pretty much everything. The hotel is on a red (no stopping) route, so it can be quite difficult to get across the road. There are also lots of restaurants and bars nearby, easily within walking distance. The closest tube station is Old Street, which is on the Northern Line and gives you easy access to any tube station.

But my impressions of the hotel are that it all comes together as a whole and it works. It's a great base for groups of people, couples, families, anybody. The décor is captivating if a little tatty and the hotel is a million miles from the usual hotel chains (not in distance though, it's actually situated in the City of London, near to Old Street tube station). It's definitely somewhere I'd stay again, although hopefully next time with a £1 rather than a £100 price tag. I'd even consider it when I next do the London Marathon and just have a longer journey to the start, and that's saying something!

A big 5* thumbs up from me!

Summary: Go for it. If you can get a room on the £1 sale, even better!