Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Twin room at the East London hotel, Bethnal Green, London.
Not hanging around? The hotel beds are ‘super comfy’ even if space is at a premium
Not hanging around? The hotel beds are ‘super comfy’ even if space is at a premium

The East London Hotel: ‘Rooms from £85 a short walk from the tube’ – review

This article is more than 5 years old

‘Throw a stone in any direction from this hotel and it’s likely to land in someone’s negroni’ ... a great new base for exploring Bethnal Green

Mother Kelly would be surprised at what’s been happening on her famous doorstep. The Georgian terraced houses of Paradise Row are still there but the railway arches at its northern end – once workshops and mechanics’ garages – have been taken over by chic restaurants and cool bars, one of them named after the early-20th-century pie shop owner herself.

From last week – on the other side of the narrow cobbled street – the site of the former Balls Brothers wine warehouse has been turned, after planning wrangles, into the East London Hotel. In this modernist grey box (with interesting geometric window designs) property developers Irfan Hussain and Marin Jakisic have decided to go for quantity as well as quality. They’ve squeezed 161 rooms on to this small plot between Paradise Row and the V&A Museum of Childhood.

It’s far too cool a place to have a reception desk: guests check themselves in online and activate their own key card, though there are smart, friendly young people hanging about to help or offer recommendations.

Rooms at this price (from £85) a short walk from the tube (City five minutes, West End 15) are never going to be spacious. Half the floor space in our standard double is taken up by the (super-comfy) bed but there’s also fast wifi, a Krups coffee machine, a big TV on the wall and Rituals toiletries in a sleek shower room that’s bigger than in many a budget hotel.

We have a leafy view of Museum Gardens from our east-facing room but not everyone gets to enjoy a view: around a quarter of the rooms are windowless – on two basement floors or in the interior of the upper storeys. But rather than expecting guests to lump it for the price, they use an ingenious lightbox to give a surprisingly credible illusion of outside.

Throw a stone in any direction from this hotel and it’s likely to land in someone’s negroni, so well-supplied with cocktail bars is this corner of Bethnal Green. There are “Mayan” ones at Chiringuito in Museum Gardens, Paradise Row has the London Cocktail Club and up the road is the artfully derelict-looking Satan’s Whisker’s. Not to be outdone, the hotel’s cafe-bar, Due East, does a signature Paradise Rose and, my favourite, Rose Water Fizz. It also serves snacks and nibbles with an emphasis on East End products: smoked salmon from Forman’s in Hackney, beers from Redchurch Brewery 300 metres up the road, and gin from the East London Liquor Co.

Sager + Wilde restaurant and wine bar, Paradise Row

For dinner, we’re spoiled for choice: restaurants in those Paradise Row arches offer discounts to hotel guests. There’s a branch of Japanese Canteen, and one of Venezuelan mini-chain Arepa & Co. We plump, though, for Sager + Wilde, outpost of the cool Hackney wine bar, and setting for chef Matthew Ziemski’s modern European cooking. His house-made pastas (one with ox tongue and cheek ragù, another with cacio e pepe and mushrooms) are masterful, though the biggest surprise is a flavourful side of mixed heritage carrots with brie. A Burnt Maple cocktail, with rye, mezcal and walnut bitters, is also memorable.

Those so inclined could party the night away in Shoreditch and get back here on foot before the sun is up. Having had our fill of good food and cocktails, we just stagger back to our bijou chamber – which also turns out to be blissfully well-soundproofed. Neither traffic on busy Cambridge Heath Road nor other guests disturbs our sleep.

The hotel’s Due East cafe-bar

Breakfast is bagels (with avocado, of course) or “overnight oats” with fruits for a healthier choice. No gym? No problem. Husband heads across the road to council-run York Hall Leisure Centre for a cheap swim in its 33⅓-metre pool (it also has a gym and fitness classes).

A decade ago, this was still grim and grimy East End. Today, it’s all serious coffee bars, yoga studios and successful young people decorating their warehouse conversions with finds from nearby Columbia Road market. But Bethnal Green has a long history of bettering itself. “Li’l gal Nelly” from the song was a Lithuanian immigrant single parent who set up a micro-credit business. Mother Kelly and her husband founded a pie and mash empire that survives to this day. Maybe the old lady would thoroughly approve.

Accommodation was provided by the East London Hotel, 309-317 Cambridge Heath Road, London (doubles from £85 room-only)

Ask a local

Sonya Barber, author of East London: an opinionated guide

Boogie nights … Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club

Eat and drink
Tucked down a quiet side street, The Camel is a classic East End boozer with a long history of serving the community: it was used as a club for non-evacuated kids during the second world war and survived the threat of demolition in the early 2000s thanks to a petition led by locals. These days, it’s got everything you could hope for in a cosy pub, including a delicious menu of fresh pies (served with all the trimmings for £8.95) and a solid selection of beer and board games to help you while away an afternoon.

Massage
A black shipping container just off Hackney Road may not sound like the go-to place to chill out but Masaj, a stylish little bodywork studio in the Gossamer City Project, is the most wonderful tonic to stressful city life – and far more affordable than most swanky spas. They offer five different relaxing and restorative massages, using delicious natural scented oils.

See
There’s no shortage of art galleries around Bethnal Green, but Four Corners is a bit different and rather special. It has been on Roman Road since 1974, running progressive film and photography exhibitions, projects and workshops that engage with the local community. It continues to support new talent, providing training and equipment as well as putting on thought-provoking exhibitions, events, talks and screenings.

Big night out
No trip to Bethnal Green is complete without a visit to the wonderful, old Working Men’s Club. It’s been providing entertainment to locals since 1887 and is still one of the best spots in London for a fun night out. The wood-panelled walls, sticky carpets and glitzed-up stage – complete with sparkly gold tinsel curtains and illuminated red heart – provide the perfect backdrop for comedy, cabaret, drag and lots and lots of silly, sweaty dancing.

Most viewed

Most viewed