STAY : London's Greenest Hotel - The Corner, London City
Located in Whitechapel, The Corner London City Hotel is London’s greenest hotel and is kitted out in a modern eclectic style that reflects this ethos - a leafy entrance, self service check-ins, cashless, recycled materials, and a mural map highlighting all their green credentials by the elevators - LED lighting, solar panels on the roof, Airdrop shower heads resulting in reducing water consumption by 25% per minute and their CO2 emissions are 67% less than the industry average.
I mean if going green is high on your life agenda, you can’t get any more environmentally friendly than The Corner.
REVIEW OF LONDON’S GREENEST HOTEL - THE CORNER LONDON CITY HOTEL IN WHITECHAPEL
The Corner is located in Whitechapel, across the road from the Altab Ali Park and is a 15-minute walk from Liverpool Street Station and nearby Shoreditch and a five-minute walk from Aldgate East tube station. We also found that using taxi’s from here was easy and fairly cheap too.
The Corner London City hotel is a great choice for a 3 star hotel. We stayed in a Comfy Room and it was absolutely spotless. There are no tea and coffee facilities in the rooms, but tea and coffee stations on each floor. They have superb wi-fi available throughout the hotel and air conditioning with hot and cold temperature controls.
The room although fairly large and comfortable, I found oddly designed. The bed and bathroom come as a pod with the dressing area which lies to the right of the bed/bathroom pod and closest to the door, extremely dark and the area on the left hand side of the bed by the window bright and bare. In the dressing area you will find a clothing rail, a safe, a desk and another vanity space all made from recycled wood. It’s a nice touch but you just cant see anything. I did look for a light switch but unless the bathroom pod door is open, it’s dark.
However the bed is super luxurious - a super king organic handmade hypoallergenic mattress with soft white linen and extremely comfortable pillows. The bed is the centre stage in your sunshine yellow room with TV at the foot of the bed and ample plug and USB sockets on the bed pillar; and wells to hold your water bottles, phone etc.
The bathroom left me 50/50. I loved the initial look and feeling of space in this bathroom but upon use some things are a little impractical. The toilet is squeezed in between the sink and the glass shower door so there is very little room to manoeuvre, there is no shelf in the shower for your own toiletries and the shower floor is a little slippery. The door also doesn’t seal shut, it merely slides across the pod with one step up into the bathroom pod - so be aware that you are able to hear everything from the W/C!
That said, the positives are - the mirror doesn’t steam up, the towels are large and fluffy and they have luxurious toiletries on offer.
The Corner is a multipurpose space so the lobby downstairs acts as reception, check-in, breakfast buffet area, bar, work space and dining room. I love that there is a constant buzz here and that the bar and simple food menu are available late at night.
Breakfast is buffet style with plenty on offer - continental to hot cooked. Tuck into bacon and eggs, cereals, pastries, pancakes, hot toast and cold meat and salads. There was some trouble with the coffee machines during our stay but they eventually churned out a flat white and a latte after about 10 minutes. Plenty of fruit juices and water available too.
The bartender although friendly did take a while to serve us but only because, much like this hotel space, he was multi tasking - from pouring drinks, to checking people in to dealing with customer queries. (We had problems during our check-in with the self service machines not working correctly and this seemed continue and be an issue for many!) There is something I like about being skilled at many tasks but sometimes waiting 20 minutes for a beer just becomes arduous!
The Corner London City Hotel itself is a great space. I love their green credentials and think that all hotels should follow suit. I would return without hesitation to stay in their rooms (those beds are lush) but would have to decide on the day if I wanted breakfast here or elsewhere and whether to return here for a nightcap or to enjoy one in central London before returning to the hotel and to my room.
THINGS TO NOTE ABOUT THE CORNER LONDON CITY
The Corner London City is dog friendly
They have disabled accessible rooms but do check entrance to hotel and down to the lifts as there are 3-4 steps to navigate
There are no tea and coffee making facilities in the rooms, only stations on each floor
The Comfy Room costs £242.50 per night in season and £152.10 in low season. You can also choose from Snug Rooms and Plush Rooms.
The Corner London City, 42 Adler Street, Whitechapel, London, E1 1EE www.thecornerlondoncity.co.uk
My Spoon Award : Bronze 7/10
I was invited by The Corner London City to review their accommodation. Accommodation was complimentary for one night and press rates for the second night. The views are very much my own.