London has its fair share of quality hotels and, just because I live here, I shouldn’t have to miss out. My love of a London staycation is well documented and, any chance I get to check out a new hotel, I’m in. New-ish, this time. The Hoxton brand (part of the Ennismore Group) is an old favourite of mine. I’ve been visiting the original Old Street site for drinks for years, I’ve staycationed at the Holborn location and, since it opened last year, I’ve been looking for an excuse to head to the newest outpost in Southwark. No time like the present, eh?
I applied my usual London staycation rules: one night, somewhere central, 4 star or above (otherwise, what’s the point?) and the best value I can find. With Sunday night availability (in August) in a cute and compact ‘shoebox’ room for £90, The Hoxton Southwark ticked my London staycation sleepover boxes.
Overnight bag packed, I grabbed my oyster card and headed south of the river.
(Note: this trip took place in August 2020 under COVID-19 restrictions, so some services were unavailable and places yet to re-open. However, I’ve tried to keep my review as “normal life” as possible because we will get through this pandemic. Eventually).
London staycation location
The hotel is a less than 5-minute walk from Southwark tube station (Jubilee Line), it’s also close to Blackfriars – for train, tube and pier – and not too far from Waterloo.
Yes, I can be a bit of a London snob, but when I joke about never wanting to travel “south of the river”, it really is just that. I don’t really mean it. I was even born there (…sort of). There are so many cool spots on the southside, and the Hoxton Southwark is pretty well positioned for a London staycation. Turn left and you can be on the river within 10 minutes: start with drinks (of course) at the Sea Containers hotel where you’ll find Ryan Chetiyawardana’s acclaimed bar Lyaness (in a former life, “World’s Best Bar” Dandelyan) or the rooftop lounge 12th Knot. Keep walking along the riverside, through the design stores of the Oxo Tower, down to the South Bank arts and culture hub where you’ll find The National Theatre, Hayward Gallery, BFI, London Eye and enough other attractions, bars and restaurants to keep you occupied for days.
Back at the hotel, the Tate Modern is only a few minutes away – allow at least a couple of hours for the collection route alone. From there, you can cross the Millenium Bridge to reach St Paul’s and The City, or stay south, pass Shakespeare’s Globe and head towards London Bridge for Borough Market, The Shard (skip the tourist viewing deck, just head straight to the bars) and the scene around Bermondsey Street. Oh, and Blackfriars Pier is just a few minutes from the hotel so, if you are too lazy to walk, you can grab an Uber Boat by Thames Clippers all the way out to Putney in the west or Royal Arsenal in the East and do all your sightseeing from the deck.
Yes. You should definitely travel south of the river.
The Hotel
I always think of the Hoxton’s as boutique, but in reality, they are pretty big properties. Southwark has 192 rooms. The style is industrial, “…inspired by the tanneries and factories that once populated South London”. There is lots of warehousey exposed brickwork softened with luxurious soft furnishings, rugs, the plumpest of cushions – I loved the giant velvet sofa that greets you as soon as you walk through the main doors.
Like their other London properties, ground floor common areas are open-plan. To the left, restaurant/bar Albie, to the right a more loungey bar area where the laptop squad dominate during the daytime. More info on food a drink below.
I didn’t visit the private event areas or their new co-working space, but they looked pretty cool from where I was standing.
The room
Question: why do I book the majority of my London staycations on a Sunday night?
The answer is UPGRADES. Not only are room rates generally lower (in expensive markets like London, this is significant), but hotels are rarely at capacity so your chances of upgrades improve, especially if you book directly with the property.
Score one for me: upgraded 2 categories from the “shoebox” that I paid for to a much larger “cosy”. Disappointed to only be on the 1st floor (the building has 14 floors, though not all have rooms), but happy to trade a view for additional floor space on my London staycation.
The rooms are sparse, but cosy. I loved the duck-egg blue wooden panelling, the matching vintage-style Roberts radio, the cute seating area in front of the floor to ceiling windows, the framed artwork with a nod to the local area. The bed had a luxurious velvet headboard and the mattress was just as comfy as I remembered from Holborn: like sleeping on a cloud.
Sad not to have a bath, but the shower was huge and just glorious. This place really doesn’t do amenities. Limited toiletries (the house brand is Blank – you have access to full sized shower gel, shampoo, conditioner as well as a mini soap. Nothing to write home about), a TV with basic channels, no mini bar – though you get 2 complimentary cartons of water, fresh milk and space in the fridge to BYOB. Tea and coffee? You get a kettle and bags. Coffee bags are the WORST – even if you add only half a standard cup of water AND leave the bag in, you still get a weak brown liquid with barely a whiff of coffee aroma…or flavour Was about to say, “would a Nespresso have killed them?”, but then I looked back at my Holborn review and realised I said exactly that 4 years ago. So its not even a COVID thing. God, I am such a princess…
For the price, though, I was super-happy, and I slept like a baby.
Food and drink
Because summer = people hitting rooftop bars with wild abandon, I’d started to see a lot of pics from Seabird popping up all over Instagram, but hadn’t realised it was connected to the Hoxton. Up on the 14th floor, it is seafood restaurant with a Mediterranean-inspired menu, London’s longest oyster list and “an impressive marble raw bar”. Guess who doesn’t eat fish or seafood? Not really a problem: I was really here for the cocktails.
Cocktails in the sky
The restaurant itself is indoors, but a really open, airy space with floor-to-ceiling windows on 3 sides. The tones are neutral: rattan furniture, linen upholstery, cream muslin drapes and the odd splash of colour from the indoor greenery and mustard velvet sofas randomly dotted about. It was all very elegant, the crowd was sexy and sophisticated in a late Sunday brunch kind of way. I wished I hadn’t worn trainers.
However, the vibe was unpretentious, the staff friendly. I started indoors with some nibbles and a house cocktail served in a fabulously obnoxious ceramic toucan (The Toucan Do It, £16) before moving out to the wraparound terrace to enjoy views over the city views while sipping on a deliciously boozy frozen caipirinha (£13, made with a blend of rums rather than cachaça. Controversial…).
Staycation or not, this is a proper destination spot, well worth a trip. Totally recommend.
Down-to-earth dinner
Back down in the lift, I headed to Albie for a casual dinner. The concept for the ground floor restaurant seems to be to be having menus from different styles of eatery (I want to say, like pop-ups?) all operating out of the same kitchen. While I was there, we had a Classic menu (burgers, salads), Eggbreak (all-day breakfast foods), Tandoor Tacos (Indian twist on the Mexican staple), Tandoor Chop House (more substantial Indian mains). I ordered saucy, hot Tennessee fried chicken and crinkle cut chips from Pecking Order (Cuckoo’s Nest meal deal £8), which was delicious washed down with a diet coke (it was spicy!), but a pain in the backside to order via their incredibly inflexible contactless online system (thanks, COVID). Can’t knock the huge portions and good value, though.
To the right of the main entrance there is a second bar area with more loungey seating for daytime working/chilling over coffee or evening drinks. The bar is well stocked: craft beers and kombucha (?!) on tap, a brief wine list, signature cocktails (I assume they would also make classics? I didn’t try. I was all boozed-out from Seabird), all of which could also be ordered in the main restaurant area.
A lovely space, but it was just always so busy. There is also seating area on the pavement terrace for both eating and drinking…when the weather cooperates.
London staycation: the morning after…
For breakfast, Hoxton’s have their signature breakfast bags. I remember this being free at Holborn, here? £4. Hmmm… Whatever, I ticked the box for 9am and hung my bag on the hook outside the door. And then they forgot me. Sigh… I called down, it was delivered within 20 or so minutes. Fresh-ish croissant from St John’s Bakery, banana and orange juice (which I pimped mimosa-style with prossecco left over from my DIY spa glow-up session the night before). It hit the spot. And, when I went to check out, it was with the same lady who delivered the bag to my room (that is some multi-tasking), and the £4 never appeared on my bill. Whether it was for the inconvenience, or because it should have been free anyway, I don’t know. However small, it was a nice parting gift.
London staycation: sleepover summary
So, how was my London staycation? Pretty damn good.
As as an existing fan of the Hoxton brand, I pretty much knew what I was getting into. I already loved the style of their spaces and the general vibe – and the Southwark branch didn’t disappoint.
Some minor complaints. For a 4-star property, the room amenities are kind of basic. I’ve stayed at plenty of properties in this category that have given me better coffee, some packaged biscuits, little touches. It was a bit Premier Inn (I like this brand too, btw), tbh. Fair play, some of this might be down to COVID arrangements and, for the price I paid, my room was still lovely. And that bed…
Seabird was spectacular and the food in Albie was yum…even if the ordering system sucked.
For my “hometown holiday” the hotel was perfectly located for some exploring on foot and a little bit of culture (nearly 3 hours in The Tate? Yay me!). Whether you are a local or coming into town as a tourist, it is a pretty good place to stay. Would I book it again? Yeah, why not. Let’s do it.
Would you do a London staycation “south of the river”? Drop a comment below.
