The Standard, London has Eurostar and six Tube lines two minutes away and a tenth-floor bar and discotheque, for design and late nights; Town Hall Hotel, the cheaper, sits out in Bethnal Green with a pool, kitchens in most suites and two-star Da Terra, for longer, dinner-led stays.
The design oneA 1970s Camden council block turned design hotel, with a red lift up the outside to a tenth floor facing St Pancras.
££From about £250 a night
Choose The Standard, London if
The catch
The Standard King Interior has no windows at all, and it is the first room on the hotel's own list.
The tableA listed Bethnal Green town hall with Rafael Cagali's two-star Da Terra on the ground floor and apartment-sized rooms above it.
£From about £173 a night
Choose Town Hall Hotel if
The catch
Da Terra serves Wednesday to Saturday only, and on Sunday the hotel serves no lunch or dinner and the lounge is closed.
| Best for | The Standard, London | Town Hall Hotel |
|---|---|---|
| Best design hotels in London | On the list | On the list |
| Best value hotels in London | On the list | On the list |
| Best central hotels in London | On the list | Not on the list |
| Best quiet hotels in London | Not on the list | On the list |
| Best hotels with a view in London | On the list | Not on the list |
| Best hotels for food and drink in London | On the list | On the list |
The Standard, LondonTown Hall Hotel
The Standard, London
Town Hall Hotel
The verdict
The Standard, London has Eurostar and six Tube lines two minutes away and a tenth-floor bar and discotheque, for design and late nights; Town Hall Hotel, the cheaper, sits out in Bethnal Green with a pool, kitchens in most suites and two-star Da Terra, for longer, dinner-led stays.
Questions people ask
The Standard, London has Eurostar and six Tube lines two minutes away and a tenth-floor bar and discotheque, for design and late nights; Town Hall Hotel, the cheaper, sits out in Bethnal Green with a pool, kitchens in most suites and two-star Da Terra, for longer, dinner-led stays.
The Standard earns its place on the building, the lift and the tenth floor, and on a King's Cross address you can walk off a train into. Pay up to the Premium King View and accept that the quiet parts of a hotel are not what this one is for. Design is the whole argument here, and so is the address: a saved Brutalist block two minutes from Eurostar, with the restaurants and the bars stacked at the top of it. It is loud, it is photographed, and it has no spa or pool at all.
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
Book it for Da Terra and for the building, and check the restaurant's days before you fix the dates. If you want to step out of the door into central London, this is the wrong postcode. The reason to book is on the ground floor, and the rate is the other one: a two-star kitchen under a listed Edwardian town hall, with apartment-sized rooms above it at East London prices. Everything else you do from here, because the hotel is quiet and stops serving lunch and dinner on Sunday.
It has an indoor pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.