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Arriving from Norwich to Liverpool Street for a weekend in the capital, then why go much further? SIMON PARKIN discovers how the east end is once again the beating heart of London.
In recent years though the streets and boroughs you pass through immediately before pulling into the station have been the most vibrant part of the capital.
Hoxton, Shoreditch and the East End have slowly reinvented themselves, and with the Olympics on the horizon the heart of London is again shifting east and where the fashionable pioneer, business nearly always follows. So it should be no surprise that this previously overlooked corner of London is seeing big investment. One of the most notable arrivals has been the Hoxton Urban Lodge on the Great Eastern Road – a ‘luxury budget hotel’ that is a brainchild of Sinclair Beecham, founder of Pret á Manger, the successful chain of sandwich shops.
His idea has been to bring a touch of fashionable design to the budget hotel. A cheap place to rest your head in a hotel complete with snazzy restaurant, free Wi-Fi internet access, flat-screen TV’s.
Downstairs the lobby is designed to resemble a lodge in the American wilderness, with fireplaces, antlers and huge paper birds soaring from the ceiling. The lively Hoxton Grille restaurant draws in revellers as well as guests and avoids the usual stale hotel bar atmosphere.
But the best thing is the hotel’s perfect location. Ten minutes from Liverpool Street, a short-walk from Hoxton Square or Brick Lane’s ‘Banglatown’ – right at the heart of this most buzzing part of London
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