Review: The Hoxton Southwark hotel brings the vibes
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This is our review of The Hoxton Southwark hotel in London.
One of the trendiest hotel brands to emerge in London over the past two decades, The Hoxton is going global with new openings almost every month, particularly in Europe.
As the name suggests, it originally began with a hotel converted from an old multi-story car park in the Hoxton / Shoreditch area. In London it has since been joined by three others in Shepherd’s Bush, Holborn, and Southwark.
I cycle past The Hoxton Southwark on a fairly regular basis and have always been intrigued by what the brand has to offer. From the outside the chic industrial public spaces look great and always seem to be teeming with activity, whether hotel guests, remote workers or meetings, so I jumped on the chance when The Hoxton Southwark invited HfP over for a night.
Can I earn Accor Live Limitless points?
Whilst The Hoxton is owned by Accor, it is part of the hotel group’s luxury lifestyle subsidiary Ennismore which operates its own loyalty program called Dis-Loyalty. This is a paid membership scheme that costs £144 per year and gets you the following benefits:
- 50% off newly-opened hotels
- 20% off your first stay at a new brand
- 10% off return stays
- 10% off all food and drink
- 1 free barista-made drink every day of the year
Right now, Dis-Loyalty is offering up to 35% off membership in its Birthday Sale, taking the annual cost down to £93.60.
Confusingly, some Ennismore brands participate in Accor Live Limitless whilst others, including The Hoxton, do not. Even if an Ennismore hotel is part of ALL (see the 25hours review we are running next week), you cannot book via Dis-Loyalty and also earn Accor points or receive Accor status benefits.
The Hoxton Southwark location
The only Hoxton hotel south of the Thames, The Hoxton Southwark is just south of Blackfriars Bridge as you head towards Elephant and Castle. The nearest tube station is Southwark (hence the name) where you can hop on the Jubilee Line.
This part of London is a very central yet still surprisingly residential neighbourhood. It’s just round the corner from the trendy restaurants on The Cut which connects Blackfriars Road with Waterloo Road and Waterloo Station. The Cut is also home to both the Old Vic and Young Vic theatres, and you can easily walk to the South Bank in less than 10 minutes.
The area is perfect if you’re looking for a non-touristy but central, well connected and walkable neighbourhood with plenty of good local restaurants. In my opinion (and I may be biased, as I don’t live too far from here) it is an excellent location.
Inside The Hoxton Southwark
The Hoxton Southwark is located within a 14-storey new build brick tower and opened in 2019. The lower six floors are home to the hotel whilst the upper seven are home to The Hoxton’s owners, Ennismore. On the 14th floor is the destination restaurant Seabird, serving fresh Spanish and Portuguese inspired seafood from its expansive, outdoor terrace.
At ground floor you have a combined hotel lobby-restaurant-cafe-coworking space with industrial brick finishes and pastel velvety furniture.
Fancy sitting outside? The nice terrace means you can do that too:
It took me a second to spot the hotel reception desks which are at the back. Check-in was quick and easy and my room was ready at 3pm.
Rooms at The Hoxton Southwark
There are 192 rooms in the hotel, which is surprising given that guest rooms occupy just five floors of the building and it doesn’t look particularly big on the outside. However, it is larger than it looks with a pizza-slice-shaped footprint.
It helps that a lot of the rooms are quite small. The entry level category, called ‘Shoebox’, is just 15 square meters, but even the largest ‘Biggy’ rooms are not massive at 35 square meters.
I was given a ‘Cozy’ room which is about average: between 17 and 21 square meters. ‘Cozy’ is about right: anyone with more than a large suitcase will struggle.
Rooms are a fairly standard rectangular shape, with a bathroom on the left. This was just about big enough for one – you would struggle to fit two people in here, unless one of you is in the shower.
Toiletries are by the brand ‘blank’:
After the bathroom you have a small open wardrobe, safe and mini fridge:
I suppose you could, at a push, use this as a luggage rack but I’m not sure it was designed for that purpose.
The bedroom is equally, well, cozy with a queen bed and rich red, almost black, velvet headboard:
The two marble topped bedside tables are home to a Bluetooth speaker in the style of an old-fashioned radio and a retro rotary telephone:
Opposite the bed is the TV plus a small ledge with handful of books including ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ as well as the kettle:
Meanwhile, the tea bags and coffee bags (there is no coffee machine) are on the little table / desk in the window:
and
The view from this room wasn’t spectacular, but I did get a glimpse of the London Eye and the cluster of buildings that surround it:
Dinner at Seabird
The Hoxton Southwark has two dining options: Albie, the ground-floor restaurant/cafe/bar and Seabird, the rooftop restaurant on the 14th floor that’s a destination it its own right.
Seabird is very trendy, and for good reason: the setting is stunning, particularly on the balmy summer evening we had, with a beautiful outdoor terrace looking towards the One Blackfriars tower and the river.
Outside tables are on a first-come-first-serve basis and we managed to nab one of the last ones around 7pm.
The focus at Seabird is on Spanish and Portuguese inspired seafood but there’s also an extensive raw / on ice menu and, I’m told, the largest selection of oysters in London with nine different types.
The oysters were, I have to admit, phenomenal and include Gillardeau, the so called ‘Rolls-Royce of oysters’. Prices are between £5 and £6.50 per piece.
Small plates range from £8 for chargrilled padron peppers to £35 for dressed Brixham crab, whilst mains are from £25 for veggie/vegan options to £95 for whole lobster rice. We stuck with small plates so that we could try a range of different things.
It’s not cheap but it’s beautiful on a London summer’s day!
Breakfast at The Hoxton Southwark
Breakfast is served in Albie on the ground floor. This was a bit of an oddity. When we rocked up at 7:55am we were asked if we had a reservation (no – when was the last time you reserved for breakfast at your own hotel?!) before being told that they were exceptionally busy despite it being exceptionally quiet.
The hostess told us that all seating had been filled with 8am bookings but she managed to squeeze us in around the corner by the window, which I actually liked.
Anyway …. the rush of diners never materialised during our 45-minute breakfast. Even when we left there were still ample tables available, so I’m not sure what happened.
When it comes to food, you can choose from an a la carte menu with prices from £9 to £13.50. I opted for the Hox Benny with a side of avocado:
Conclusion
Let’s be clear about what The Hoxton Southwark has to offer, because it isn’t going to be for everyone. The small rooms are unsuitable for anyone with lots of luggage or families – if that’s you, then somewhere else may be better.
What The Hoxton does deliver on is (as the yoofs say!) the vibes. I like the industrial Victorian chic of the rooms: exposed concrete ceilings, modern brass chandeliers, deep red velvet headboards and rotary telephones.
Seabird is popular enough that I don’t need to convince anyone to go but it is a treat to be able to enjoy great seafood from an open-air rooftop terrace on a London summer’s eve. Albie, downstairs, offers a more casual but still cool place to work remotely from or have a meeting with colleagues or clients.
That said, prices can be punchy: even the smallest Shoebox rooms vary from £200 to over £400, depending on the night.
You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.
Hotel offers update – November 2024:
Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.
Want to buy hotel points?
- Hilton Honors is offering an 80%-100% bonus when you buy points by 27th November 2024. Your annual purchase limit is either doubled or tripled. Click here to buy.
- Marriott Bonvoy is offering a 40%-45% bonus when you buy point by 23rd December 2024. Your annual purchase limit is increased to 150,000 points plus bonus. Click here to buy.
- World of Hyatt is offering a 25% bonus when you buy points by 4th January 2025. Your annual purchase limit is increased to 110,000 points plus bonus. Click here to buy.
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