I stayed at The Hoxton Holborn
What it’s like in the hip, central London hotel
I’m a fan of The Hoxton – the hip mid-price hotel chain which began in London’s East End (hence the name), when it turned a car park into its first hotel, in 2006. It was followed, in 2014, by a second outpost – the Hoxton Holborn, in a former telephone exchange close to the tube station. And then it took off, now there are branches all over the world, from Barcelona to Amsterdam, Paris to New York.
I’ve previously stayed at the Hoxton in Southwark, which me and my erudite author sister Frances Rivetti both loved, so I was excited to sample The Hoxton Holborn, to see what the centrally-located hotel was like.
Location: First, the location – just along from Holborn Tube Station, it’s on High Holborn, near the junction with New Oxford St. As such, it’s really well-situated for Bloomsbury and the British Museum, as well as Covent Garden and the shops and theatres of the West End. It is surrounded by restaurants, bars and coffee shops.
Vibe: It has a large, airy downstairs with a coffee bar and bar at either end. In-between are sofas and chairs absolutely packed with people co-working, from breakfast to dinner. It’s obviously a really popular spot to work, during weekdays, as ironically a lot of the formal co-working spaces nearby looked empty. The Hoxton chain is all about fitting into a community, so it encourages locals to use the hotel, which means it has a really buzzy vibe. I liked its noticeboard recommending local amenities with paper for guests to add their recommendations. The funky aesthetic means it’s mainly aimed at millennials, but that doesn’t mean anyone outside of that generation wouldn’t enjoy their stay. I took my two under-10s and we loved it as much as anyone else. They do have kids’ menus, but it’s not particularly aimed at families.
Rooms: There are 220 rooms, ranging from the smallest – Shoebox – to the biggest – Biggy - all decorated in the Hoxton’s usual funky scheme. We had a Biggie room, which was spacious, with dark-wood panelling and fun Toile wallpaper with Charles Dickens’ inspired (gruesome) scenes. The writer lived not far from the hotel. The bed was super-comfortable and the bathroom, whilst minimal, was New York-esque, with dark tiles and a roomy shower. My only criticism of this room, was it was very dark with low-level lighting, meaning this old codger found it difficult to see what I was doing in the evening, especially with two kids hurling possessions around.
Food and drink: Think good food done very well, with a little twist. The hotel has one restaurant, Rondo, which is a neighbourhood bistro, “with bold dishes”. That means things like rabbit ragu and venison haunch and women like me trying not to look too obvious as they search for the chicken option. I went for baby chicken and charred sweetcorn, which was absolutely delicious – interestingly I sampled the same dish at a similar type of hotel recently, where they did not do it nearly as well. Breakfast, too, was particularly good. As well as the classic eggs done all ways and smashed avocado on toast, there was smoked trout and cream cheese buns and the best granola bowl I’ve tasted. Croissants were also perfectly-done, which is high-praise from my Francophile pastry-loving family.
Verdict: 8/10 I really enjoyed my stay here. It felt a lot busier than its Southwark sibling, which has a more guest-vibe than locals’ one, plus a bit more worky than restful, downstairs. I doubt we could have found a seat for a coffee, had we wanted one, for example. However, you do feel in the middle of the action and part of a popular destination. Service and food were excellent.
I paid for my accommodation
The Travel List
Where: 99-206 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BD.
Price: Rooms are from around £350 per night. There are all kinds of extras you can access, from Flexi-Time, where you choose your own check-in and out, plus a free breakfast bag and a Dis-loyalty scheme which gives 20 per cent off bookings.
Book: thehoxton.com