HOTEL
| Review |
One Hundred Shoreditch, A London Hotel | BY ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD
One Hundred Shoreditch, being both the name of the hotel and its address, is located on the main thoroughfare of a neighbourhood that’s evolved from its recent hip and trendy past to embrace a new and smarter feel. You can still meander along the many alleys and backstreets, and for a truly urban experience it’s highly reminiscent of New York’s Meat Packing District. In walking distance are Broadway Market and the Columbia Road flower market, the Bengali restaurants of Brick Lane and the hip cafés, clubs and galleries of Hoxton and Spitalfields. One Hundred Shoreditch has a cool, simple façade that stands out from above the street with its oriel windows. But it’s from within that the story unfolds. For the entrance is uber-cool with wooden totem sculptures made from local fallen trees as though referencing the urban jungle that is Shoreditch. There’s cork wall panelling and tactile sculptural artwork. Cushioned armchairs and sofas, house plants and a long communal wooden table comprise the adjoining co-working space and throughout there are modern touches and splashes of colour. There’s even a stylish coffee shop within and on hand. The 258 rooms, be they lofts or studios, all have a neutral tone. Some come with either a Juliet balcony or a row of oriel windows from which to watch the world below go
by. A carafe is there to refill from the water fountains on each floor to embrace our eco world. The rooms have floor-to-ceiling tapestries, wool carpets, paper lights and jute rugs. Natural shaped vases carry sprigs of eucalyptus and the duvets are fresh, bouncy and inviting on beds set upon a plinth to give a sense of floating. The rooms exude a calmness and comfort that takes one successfully away from the frenzy of the outside world. The hotel has six restaurants and bars: each with their own vibe. On the ground floor Goddard & Gibbs is the huge, airy, golden-lit and all-day restaurant. It’s suggestive of childhood trips to the seaside with its deposits of rock, with its frames of golden sand and with, as its centrepiece, a giant yellow rock sculpture representing nature at play. It specialises in ‘locally and sustainably sourced seafood’ inspired by England’s fishing villages and coastal towns. So on the menu are Dorset crab and Cornish mackerel. The restaurant, whose prices are inexpensive by London standards, has its own entrance to the street with The Hatch offering takeaway seafood. In the hotel’s fundaments is The Seed Library: a dimly-lit, snug intimate underground lounge-style bar with spot-lit niches perfect for that late night cocktail and where on Fridays and Saturdays there are late-night DJ sets.
72 | UPSCALE LIVING MAGAZINE | WINTER 2023
The rooftop by contrast with the golden ground floor is breezy and celestial, all ‘sunset’ pink and ‘foliage’ green. Brand new, from mid-May 2022, its bar and terrace run along the whole frontage affording panoramic views over East London and the City. Amongst the marble tables and tiles and rosy lamps nature asserts herself with plants drooping down from the ceiling and cacti in their shapely gourds springing up from the floor. It’s an idyll ideal for that necessary sense of space as is the neighbouring One Hundred Room which feels like a greenhouse with its floor-to-ceiling glass and which looks dramatically out across London’s skyline. This latest of hip East London hang-outs is also a haven of tranquillity and the service at the reception is fresh and present. First impressions do count. | onehundredshoreditch.com
