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The best hotels in east London

From cutting edge to cheap and cheerful, here's our pick of the best hotels in east London

Written by
Time Out editors
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In this infamous land of beards, hipsters and that cereal café, the best hotels in east London get plenty of attention, too. It's an area where millennial culture meets Bangladeshi curry houses, and artisan produce meets glorious working-class London pubs. You’ve got fashionable Broadway Market and craft beer in railway arches, London Fields in Hackney, lovely leafy Victoria Park, trendy-and-decent dining options in Shoreditch, all manner of cheap Vietnamese up the Kingsland Road (try Mein Tay), plus a little further out there’s the Olympic Park and epic Epping Forest for walks that could fool you into thinking you’re in the actual countryside. Hotel-wise, you couldn’t be luckier: eccentrically British and design-focused sleeping options abound. Here’s our pick of the best hotels in east London.

Looking for more options? Check out London’s best Airbnbs.

The best hotels in east London

Ace Hotel London Shoreditch
  • Hotels
  • Boutique hotels
  • Shoreditch

In the thick of Shoreditch, with its own music venue, in-house record shop and juice bar, Ace is as much a lifestyle brand as it is a hotel. Excellent coffee powers local millennials working on the communal tables in the lobby through the day, before a DJ turns up on a nightly basis. Rooms have a mix of vintage and new furniture and accessories that reflect the design team’s appreciation of artisans. You might find an Ally Capellino leather change box (her shop is just down the road) or a CF Martin & Co guitar in your room.

  • Hotels
  • Boutique hotels
  • Bethnal Green

Beautifully designed, film set-worthy hotel (it’s appeared in Atonement and Snatch) in Bethnal Green. Each room is different: many of them still have their original Edwardian and Art Deco features, others are in the loft, and they all contain one-off vintage furniture pieces. It’s as practical as it is swanky: there’s a free shuttle bus to the City, and it’s a few minutes walk from Bethnal Green tube. Culinary types will love the modern British Typing Room restaurant, and creative cocktails at Peg + Patriot, should they want a nightcap. And if you get lonely, you can have the resident goldfish stay in your room for the night.

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Andaz Hotel
  • Hotels
  • Liverpool Street

Polished red-brick railway hotel with Eames furniture and a classic interior colour palette of black, white, greys, woods and reds. The first of Hyatt’s Andaz collection of hotels, it’s got eco-friendly credentials and down-to-earth service. Restaurant options include British plates at 1901, in a former ballroom with a stained-glass dome, or Japanese at Miyako. The free healthy minibar is a winning feature, while horror movies are screened in the hotel’s basement cinema, a moody former Masonic temple.

  • Hotels
  • Spitalfields

Named after an eighteenth-century architect and landscape gardener Bartholomew Langley, this Spitalfields hotel has opulent decor to fit the 1720s building. It’s about Georgian decadence: working fireplaces, four-poster oak beds, mega-vintage tapestries, velvets in deep reds and heavy cast-iron roll-top baths. But rather than let it get too haughty, the place has a generous dose of British humour too: first there’s the name, which extends to lordly monikers for each room, and then there are the throne loos…

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Rose & Crown
  • Hotels
  • B&Bs
  • Stoke Newington

A pub with boutique rooms on lovely café and boutique-tastic Stoke Newington Church Street, a short walk from Clissold Park. The six individual rooms range from single to suite, the latter with a free-standing bath and all with fancy toiletries and post-sleep full Englishes. In the relaxed, oak-panelled pub downstairs you’ll find a roaring fire, real ales and Sunday roasts, and there’s a secluded roof terrace above.

  • Hotels
  • Stratford

The best thing by miles about this hotel is the view. Literally miles, with vistas across to the Olympic Park, the Stadium, the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture and beyond to the City skyline, featuring the Gherkin et al. Rooms, all of which are suites, have a simple, modern design, and it’s good for long stays: each one has a full kitchen and there’s a laundry room. It’s also handily located in Westfield and a four minute walk from the tube.

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  • Hotels
  • Hackney

One of those newfangled, stripped-back luxury hotels that stylishly provides the basics at a high standard. Hyper-trendy rooms, starting at a tiny £30, are all clean lines and monochrome, with the odd palm print thrown in. They’ve got a fleet of fixie bikes for guests to borrow and, because they’re all cool and tech-savvy, they’re developing an app that also acts as a room key, and among other things, will help you check in quicker.

  • Hotels
  • Royal Docks

Here's a novel idea – a Dutch floating hotel transported, with the help of tug boats, to the Newham waterfront, where it offers training to the unemployed, and possible future long-term work. The style is pure industrial combined with Dutch design classics. Smart, minimalist rooms, from around £100, have dock- or waterside views. A living room for socialising and dining, plus a rooftop terrace inspired by New York's High Line elevated park, complete the picture.

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  • B&Bs
  • Stepney

The lovingly designed Stepney home of influential interior designer Mr Carter has just two rooms, a single and a double, sharing one bathroom. It’s more fabulous boutique hotel, rich in personality, than B&B though, and the building dates back to 1717. Think frilly, lacy lampshades, glass dressing tables, gold leaf, pouffes and bright, crisp white Egyptian cotton sheets and Chinese screens that hint at opium-den chic. The music room has an Alice in Wonderland feel, and there’s a garden at the back.

Arbor City Hotel
  • Hotels
  • Whitechapel

This boutique hotel, handily positioned at the south (curry joint-heavy) end of Brick Lane and round the corner from the Whitechapel Gallery, has its own cocktail bar and private cinema room. Rooms are comfy and bright with a simple modern design and flashes of colour, while transport links are excellent – you’re right by Aldgate East tube and close to all the restaurants, bars and vintage stores you could possibly need in Shoreditch.

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