An easy walk from either Old Street or Angel stations, the four-star nhow hotel lives up to its reputation as one of the artiest hotels in London.
It’s one of eight nhow (pronounced with a silent H) hotels across Europe, and they have built up a reputation for being hip and eclectic in their design.
And that is no different at the London offering, which feels very at home in its location on the outskirts of trendy Shoreditch.
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First impressions
Once inside the vibe is stark industrial mixed with quirky bright colours. The ground floor is open plan and industrial, with exposed pipes running along the ceiling.
This is offset by vivid yellow and green accents and furniture, such as the bright yellow panelled circular bar, which takes stage alongside a big statue of Big Ben taking off like a rocket.
My wife and I arrived at nHow on a Friday evening, tired after an arduous week at work, and sweaty from lugging our overnight bag around London all day.
What was surprising was that despite the outré décor, I felt very relaxed from the moment I arrived. At no point did I feel like I was being judged for my slightly dishevelled appearance, and the staff were keen to help in any way they could.
If you're hoping to avoid an up tight or formal atmosphere then nhow is the complete opposite of that.
One of the hotel's selling points is its willingness to cater to dogs. Quite literally in fact as they offer an afternoon tea just for man's best friend, which includes frozen peanut butter bites and 'puppucino'.
Alas we're more of a cat couple so weren't able to experience this.
The Rooms
After walking down a long corridor where all the doors to rooms were bright front doors, making it feel like something out of Alice in Wonderland, I arrived at the room.
nhow offers a simple range of rooms, from ‘superior’ to ‘deluxe premium’, as well as suites and the penthouse suite.
I stayed in the Royal suite, which came with a massive king-size bed, two big flat screen TVs, and was decorated with edited images of various historical monarchs.
We were welcomed to our room with a bottle or red wine and I quickly jumped in one of the biggest baths I’ve ever been in.
The windows run from floor to ceiling almost all the way down one side of the suite. By pulling back the curtain I was able to gain a nifty people-watching position from the bath with my lovely wine – a great way to rewind after a long, hard week.
Food and drink
The restaurant at nhow is spread across the ground floor and maintains the same relaxed atmosphere I experienced throughout my visit.
Despite its open-plan nature, a lot of care has clearly been taken with the design to ensure there’s enough soft furnishing to soak up the sound and prevent it from sounding like a noisy canteen, which can be the case sometimes.
The menu is varied so there should be something for everyone. I had a very tender steak and triple cooked chips, followed by dark chocolate tart that was delightfully rich.
My wife went for the quinoa salad with roast salmon which got the thumbs up and I was happy to help her finish her dessert of ice cream and sorbet.
We had to leave early the following morning so requested our breakfast sent to the room and the staff were happy to oblige.
We enjoyed a faultless full English with a particularly well-seasoned mushroom, as well as boiled eggs, croissant and fruit salad.
We arrived at nhow feeling tired from a hard week, but left feeling refreshed and full of energy for another busy day in the capital. And you can’t ask for much more than that.
Rooms at nhow are available from around £250 a night and can booked online here.
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