View from the Room - South Place Hotel, London
It’s our 10th anniversary. Like last year, we are staying in the UK; the big three-week adventures will have to wait a year, much like Euros2020 and Olympics 2020 that we’ve been enjoying.
The South Place is a design-orientated boutique hotel and is fitting for the first time I recall staying in a London hotel other than the umpteen times for business. I come from Bedford, 36 mins by train and the only time I stayed in London as a kid was at one of my older sister’s houses during school holidays. I’ve never stayed in the city though, usually in West London, so this felt different, like we were away. This, despite working in the area early in my media career. The hotel and the city were a good choice and an improvement on last year’s road trip to Lincolnshire and Norfolk.
On paper, the South Place would compete with the Malmaison, where we had a disappointing stay in Liverpool. We took no chances here and the warm welcome gave me immediate reassurance.
We arrived late morning - the capital is only 90 minutes by train from Birmingham - so staff kindly took our case and advised they would text when our room was ready; a simple gesture that warmed my heart.
The city was already warming up on this August morning, one day before our anniversary, so I tucked a spare layer away into the case and headed out into the sunshine. We ventured close to this EC2 neighbourhood when we here a few weeks ago for a day trip and tea at Fortnums, no less, but deliberately stayed away to keep it fresh.
I don’t recognise anything from working here three decades ago. It looks amazing. Gone are the dirty streets and smoky men-only bars and in their place are wonderful coffee shops, like the social enterprise Redemption Roasters and loads of places to sit outside. All of London has changed to this, amidst the glorious old buildings, one of which I worked in. What I wouldn’t have done for a Pret on every corner and loads of healthy lunch choices that didn’t have the unhealthy London price tag. There were no chains then, and for all my support of indies, the great thing is that it doesn’t matter which Leon I go to; the cost will be the same.
As South Place is a design-inspired hotel (much like the afternoon tea we have to come at the Rosewood) there are plenty of references, including the shoe arcade we walk through to get the lift. In fact, some of the pieces of furniture wouldn’t look out of place at home, especially the chair in our room.
Comfort
A variety of unfathomably pricey snacks i.e. a standard-sized bag of crips for £3.50. A little bit crazy considering there’s an M&S food hall opposite along with plenty of mini supermarkets and shops. I guess it’s for those who don’t pay their own bill, who probably make up the majority of guests.
Drawer of glasses. Really lovely quality, heavy-duty glasses. Stored in a drawer, they are much less likely to break than when reaching for one on a shelf
Complimentary glass bottles of water
Good aircon
Black-out screen controlled by bedside button which we used as blinds by bringing up 90% of the way. This is the second hotel I’ve seen blinds that go from bottom to the top, the last was in Cardiff where they had a bathtub in the window and it meant you didn’t have to bathe in darkness.
Incredibly comfy bed. One that you sink into and don’t want to get up. I knew a good night’s sleep was coming.
Lemon and lime on chopping board with a knife
Generally, this room is eco-friendly with paper rather than plastic packaging, glass bottles and items that can be taken away and re-used.
Two bathrobes
Two pairs of the most luxurious slippers I have seen in a hotel which I regretted not taking away the minute we got to the next hotel where they weren’t any. I got myself into a tizzy, wondering if they were to take away or if they could be somehow be washed and re-used as they were of such excellent quality. They weren’t on the price list, but neither were the scrumptious bathrobes either.
Bathroom
100ml ‘orange and lemon’ toiletries. Fantastic for refilling and the right size for hand luggage. (One day I’ll fly away just like Randy Crawford)
A little handbag sized anti-bac gel
two hooks
Two showers - handheld and rainbow
Huge bath - it took an effort to reach to the other side to turn the taps. I wondered if someone with less ability would even be able to do it and maybe they should have been on the near wall? Anyway, the bath was fantastic and easily fitted two.
Heated towel rail, which I never worked out how to turn off but at least the towels were always dry.
The only downside was the stiff sliding door that I daren’t shut all the way in case I couldn’t slide it open again!
All the towels were super absorbent (two bath, two hand, two face and a bathmat)
It’s wonderful to have a choice of lights in here as the low lights came in handy for night time visits.
Amenities
Digital radio. I didn’t have the patience to find stations but I eventually managed to get the blue tooth connected on the second day
Surprisingly, only 1 USB port. I was expecting a whole row of them in such a modern hotel
Big mirror leaning against the wall behind which I could tuck the luggage rack
Drawer of teas, coffees, etc
Nespresso machine
Bang & Olufson telly on the wall
Full fridge/mini bar
Tissues
Nail care kit
Shower cap
Earbuds
Sewing kit
Vanity kit
A box of pencils with a sharpener
Safe with charger
Hairdryer
Iron
Toaster
Adaptor (toothbrush charger)
South Place had the longest list of items for sale I have seen in a hotel. Not things like bathrobes (does any hotel ever sell them or is that just in Beverly Hills Cop?) but useful things like headphones, sunglasses, intimacy kit and a hangover kit. I don’t know what was included in the latter two as they had to be ordered. You could have a single sachet of hot chocolate sachet for £4.00 though. I think even the delicious Hotel Chocolate ones are cheaper than that.
Storage
14 assorted hangers in the wardrobe
three drawers under desk
Foldable luggage holder upon which the case stood as we walked back into the hotel after checking in earlier
One bedside drawer
Four drawers in the wardrobe
The lighting was well organised although some were not separated
Low lights in the bathroom are great for not bringing light into the bedroom during the night.
In all, South Place provided us as perfect an experience as we’d hoped for our 10th anniversary. There was comfort and luxury everywhere we looked and even though we didn’t get to the secret garden for a celebratory cocktail (due to a private booking) I’m sure we will be back.
August 2021
