Andaz Hotel, London

When I first arrived in London, I lived in Bethnal Green, then Broadway Market, Dalston, Stoke Newington… I basically went on a tour of East London, partied my way through Shoreditch and Dalston before I got pregnant and moved somewhere a little more Central, in Bloomsbury. Nowadays, as you know I live in Notting Hill. The quest for a good state school in Central London took us all the way West. Most of my friends in London are still child-free though and they are also mostly East, so the prospect of spending the night in my old area, surrounded by my dearest friends was always going to be appealing. 

The Andaz London is located right by Liverpool Street station, in what used to be The Great Eastern Building. Inside is a mix of contemporary design, older fixtures and the hotel comes complete with a Masonic Temple (which can now be hired as a private venue for events – quite the grand gesture). It is an interesting space, with many different atmospheres and almost as many dining options! But let’s start with the room…

I stayed in one of the Andaz Suites, which are very spacious. Mine was on the fourth floor and I liked that there were several levels in the room. A short flight of stairs led into the room, then a couple more steps to get to the desk area, some more before the bathroom. It gave the illusion of even more space. The large windows overlooking the skyscrapers of the City are a great place to sit down with a book (or your phone, if you want to goof around, pretending to be a high flying business woman, buying and selling stocks from Kitten Inc). After doing my usual “plugs round”, I came to the conclusion that the room was well designed, with power points in all the right places. Yes, that seriously is the first thing I look for in a hotel room these days. I am a true romantic, what can I say.

Decoration-wise, I think there is definitely room for improvement, as the colour scheme seems a little dated and not as nice as the rest of the hotel. I can see how a little revamping of the furniture and carpet would go a long way, especially now that the Ace Hotel – usually a direct competitor of the Andaz – opened in the vicinity. My favourite part of the room was the bathroom, which seemed much more contemporary and “hip” than the rest of the bedroom. 

Comfort, on the other hand wasn’t an issue at all – the beds are gigantic, there is plenty of room to store clothes and the small living room area is perfect to host a few friends… You can begin the evening in your room before relocating to the Champagne bar (as we did), have a mooch around the hotel’s various dining places (as we also did) before heading out to a party (maybe we did, maybe we didn’t – this you will never know).

Mademoiselle Robot was a guest of Andaz Hotel London