We’d climbed the steps and navigated our way past stylish, muted-toned furniture and stood in the lobby of One Hundred Shoreditch way too early to check in and totally ready to hand over our bags for safe-keeping and head out on the city streets.
Gazing around and enjoying the plush surroundings, while taking in the Jan Hendzel reclaimed wood sculptures, we were handed our room key. There’s always something really nice about getting an early check-in (and we were REALLY early) so plans soon changed.
It was a good hour of being in the hotel before we’d worked out that we had in fact stayed here before. One Hundred Shoreditch now sits where hipster hangout ACE Hotel once was. It was all styled so differently, as well as the facade which had undergone a really smart transformation, that we hadn’t even considered it was the same place we’d stayed back in 2017.
The hipsters are still working from the lobby – well it is Shoreditch – but they are surrounded by wooden sculptures now. The signature ACE guitars have been removed and replaced with hanging rugs and abstract paintings and there isn’t a whiff of a quirky photo booth anywhere to be seen. It’s all a bit more toned-down and sophisticated, more grown-up and less ‘Hey look at me and my cool tattoos’ vibe. Think quiet luxury over brash hedonism.
Our East London pad for the night is one of the Studio Lofts and is in the mid-price range of the hotel rooms that are available. It is a great size, flooded with natural light and has cool seating, chunky ceramic vases and soft wall hangings – just enough to give it some personality but not make it fussy. We make a coffee and grab a seat at the floor-to-ceiling window so that we can take in the trains rumbling below and the city views of the new-built towers and cranes that make up the ever-changing skyline of the area.
In the bathroom the DS & Durga amenities make us smile. The unisex ‘Debaser’ (described by the Brooklyn, NY creators as ‘The wild shrill of Black Francis coming through the radio in the August heat. Ripe fig, iris, coconut milk, tonka and dry blond woods’) scent is so good that we can’t get enough of it and end up taking a bottle of the fragrance home with us.
Room thoroughly made use of, later on in the evening we head down for a cocktail at the basement Seed Library. It’s small but perfectly formed and feels like a secret hideaway against the hustle of the busy streets above. We never make it up to The Rooftop bar and terrace, but it looks like a good enough draw for us to re-visit in the future as it apparently takes inspiration from Palm Springs with a pink colour scheme, lush succulents, cacti and panoramic views. We like the sound of the contrast to the gritty grey London below.
One night is too short a stay to get the full One Hundred Shoreditch experience. There are a ton of pop-up events scheduled throughout the year as well as weekly things like bottomless brunches and bar takeovers, curated DJ evenings, cocktail pairings and exhibitions. But when you are in the East of the city sometimes the lure of the outdoors is too much to keep you indoors – so when we’re back in the neighbourhood we’ll make One Hundred our base but maybe add on an extra night just to thoroughly enjoy what’s on offer a few meters from our room.
Studio Loft rooms start from around £269. Find out more at https://www.onehundredshoreditch.com/
