The London Staycation: Hoxton Holborn

staycation

Just because you can’t get away AWAY, doesn’t mean you cant get away (…if you get my meaning?).  If you’re short of cash, short of time or just in need of a change of scene. Even if you are only going a few stops down the tube line, you can still have a mini holiday in your hometown.

My impromptu little overnight came about as those meanies at Virgin Flying Club threatened to expire all 69,431 of my miles as I haven’t flown with them for a very, very long while (first they take away my Silver Status, now this. Oh the humanity!).

After a mild freak-out -can’t book any long haul right now – I realised I could book a hotel stay via one of their partners and we could all still be friends. I chose Rocket Miles (www.rocketmiles.com) as they offered a decent range of hotels, the prices were good (on a par with booking.com with whom they seem to share an interface) plus they were running a promotion  giving away thousands of bonus miles with every booking. SOLD.

The Hoxton Hotel on Great Eastern Street has  been one of my favourite pre-game spots on the Eastside for years (cocktails by the fire with a DJ soundtrack? What’s not to love!), so I was definitely up for trying out its little sister in Holborn when it came up on my shortlist.

The Location

A staycation is a chance to pound the street of a different neighbourhood for a change. The Hoxton Holborn is situated slap bang in the middle of…Holborn (obv), and just about everything else you need for a weekend in town.  Close to Oxford Street (if you can bear it…) and Covent Garden for shopping. If culture is your thing, it’s on the edge of Theatre Land, down the road from The Royal Opera House, not too far from St Paul’s (which in turn is just across the bridge from The Tate Modern). Its  round the corner from the British Museum, which I honestly meant to visit, except I got distracted by cake (see below).

Bars and restaurants on the doorstep, otherwise the best of London’s nightlife is just an  Uber  away. It’s well located. We get it. I’ll shut up now.

The Room

My ‘snug’ double was exactly that – small but perfectly formed. Cool and eclectic  design, as you’d expect from the brand: a mid-century wooden  bureau, shelves stacked with vintage paperbacks (a Bloomsbury nod?) and some seriously disturbing wallpaper (wolves and murder, I think? Not entirely sure what was going on there).  Bathroom was compact, but the vast walk-in shower JUST about made up for the lack of bath (long soaks in hotel tubs are a particular guilty pleasure of mine *sad face*).

A tin stuffed with teas and coffees, complimentary water and REAL milk in the hidden bedside fridge and a massive mirror for those as vain as I am.

Not a lot of space to hang your clothes or shove your bags, but fine for an overnight/cheeky weekender.

The Hotel

Like the original Hoxton, the lobby is an open plan lounge/café/bar that spills into a restaurant. Loads of comfy sofas and chairs and, like everywhere else in London with free wifi and good coffee, each one occupied by a macbook wielding digital nomad putting in some Sunday afternoon graft (or playing Candy Crush, same diff.).  Confused hotel guests wandered around looking for a quiet spot for afternoon tea (out-of-towners!). Me? I just used my special superpower (staring at people uncomfortably until they vacate their prime seats) and snagged a table with a good view of the cake trolley.

Hubbard & Bell is the main restaurant, but you can order from anywhere in the lobby. With cake in my eyeline , I skipped the museum and demolished a raisin Danish AND a chocolate brownie the size of my open palm. Delish.

More Food

Hubbard & Bell offer a tempting all day menu , including roasts and bottomless prosecco brunches (next time) on weekends , but when D joined me for dinner, we bypassed  even their insane truffle fries with parmesan (definitely next time) in favour of the Chicken Shop in the basement.

The menu is short but awesome. Veggies? Nothing to see here. We ate some of the juiciest rotisserie chicken EVER . Crispy, salty skin with crunchy crinkle-cut chips, butter lettuce side salad and washed the whole lot down with a couple of beers. Soooooo good.

It was a quiet Sunday night, service was excellent and quick. We were rolling ourselves back to the lift within an hour

The Bar

Happy and stuffed…there’s always room for a cocktail. We headed back to the lobby lounge, which had a bit more of an evening vibe to it – mercifuly laptop free – and slunk into our choice of comfy sofa. There is a dedicated bar are where you can order and hang but D & I were far too lazy for anything other than sofa service.

They do a decent number of wines by the glass or carafe, draft and bottled beer, all the usual spirits – but we were here for the cocktails. With a balanced list of classic favourites and original concoctions, it would’ve been rude to try only one . I narrowed it down to a Picante de la Casa – essentially a margarita on the rocks with a kick of chilli and coriander –  and the sake-based Samurai’s Last Word, served in its own mini ice bucket. Random, but pretty good.

Being Sunday, the atmosphere was pretty chill, and with the comfy sofas, I could easily have curled up into a ball and hung out all night.l However, my real bed was calling…

The sleep

OMG

This is how Goldiliocks must have felt after she finally  found the bed that was not too hard, not  too soft, but just right. Three extremely pissed off bears could have been standing over me snarling all night and I wouldn’t have budged. The room may be poky, but the mattresses ARE INCREDIBLE. It was like sleeping on a cloud.

I woke well-rested to a powerful hot shower, a mediocre cup of coffee (seriously, those coffee bags are weak as! Would a caffetiere or Nespresso machine kill you?) and the Brucie Bonus of a breakfast bag hanging on more door – granola & yoghurt, orange juice and a banana. Nice touch.

I headed to work with  a spring in my step (thanks in part to the DECENT short black I grabbed from Holborn Grind on the way out) and love in my heart. Hoxton Holborn? We must do this again sometime.

The Damage