Looking for a decent, contemporary hotel in London that won’t completely destroy your holiday budget? Shoreditch’s Saint Gregory Hotel is a good option.
Even though some of my London friends are pretty well off these days, it’s hard to find anyone who has a spare room to offer when I go back to visit. It’s just too expensive to own or rent such a luxury. So, I was in the market for that rarest of beasts, a decent London hotel. London hotels are not only insanely expensive, but the amount of money you pay for your room has little correlation to the level of comfort, amenities and service you will receive. Just browse the horror story reader reviews of London hotels at TripAdvisor to see what I mean.
Even supposed budget hotels in London are £80 a night, with TripAdvisor readers recommending Travelodge Kensington and Ibis City of London, which I nearly went for. Eventually though, I discovered the Saint Gregory hotel in Shoreditch, an easy 10 minute walk from Liverpool Street station and in the heart of the now trendy Hoxton / Shoreditch area of East London. This is the area in which I used to live in London, and where my best mates are still based, so it was a perfect location. I assumed it would be insanely expensive – it was, at £160 a night – but after googling I discovered Rooms.net, where I managed to book the Saint Gregory at £80 a night including breakfast. You can see the Tripadvisor reviews of it here and the Agoda booking page for St Gregory – both have photos.
The Saint Gregory is a business hotel and it looks and feels very new. The styling is minimalist contemporary – clean cut lines with everything feeling just so in the room decor – no chintz wallpaper or crappy watercolours here. The bathroom is like stepping into 2001: A Space Odyssey – all white walls and tiles with glass sink stand. The bed is extremely comfortable, the shower powerful and hot, and the room pleasingly quiet with efficient air-conditioning. These are the three things that I’m most bothered about in a hotel room, so it suited me fine. The view is non-existent, but that’s not really an issue. There’s free but very erratic wi-fi internet access in the room – mine didn’t work at the writing desk but worked brilliantly if sitting on the toilet. There is, however, a good, consistent free wi-fi connection in the lobby. You can pay £8 an hour for a proper LAN connection in your room if you really need it.
Breakfast was a real surprise – stacks of freshly cooked bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs and beans, plus plenty of cereals, cold meats, fresh fruit and juices. You’d pay £20 for this alone in London, and the restaurant area on the 7th floor had excellent panoramic views over London – you can see St Paul’s in the distance over the warehouse roofs and Foster’s Erotic Gherkin just down the road in the City. It really was a great way to start each day, making breakfast feel like an event in itself.
The staff were also helpful and quick to check in and check out. Mercifully I had little to do with them as there was nothing to complain about in the room besides the crappy wi-fi access, and that, I imagine, is not fixable by whoever is on the front desk.
Therefore, if you can get the £80 a night rate, I’d certainly recommend the Saint Gregory. It’s still not cheap, but at least you get pretty much what you pay for at London prices. Its location may not be ideal for tourists wishing to explore heritage London which is more centred around central and west London, but it’s easy to get the hang of buses and the Underground and there is also plenty to explore in East London too.
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