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A genuinely cool hotel is a rare thing – but The Standard is no typical hotel. Built into the former Camden Town Hall Annexe in London’s King’s Cross (quite literally overlooking St Pancras Hotel and the station), this brutalist hotel rejects pretty much everything you know about hotels in the city – and does it with style.
What are the rooms like at The Standard?
Rooms are in-your-face retro – and feel a little like you’re staying in a submarine, with curved walls and furniture, airplane-like blankets (bespoke designs by Wallace Sewell), and bright reds and blues. This isn’t classic luxury, far from it, but if you were looking for that, you should’ve gone down the road. Somehow, it just works – in the bathrooms, tiles are maroon and baby pink against pale-green taps in the silky rainfall shower. Everything here is utterly intentional. Look closer and you’ll see that each component, from the bath towels to the face flannels, are branded with The Standard’s logo. I imagine these get stolen a lot – I’d certainly buy one. The mini-bar is, expectedly, decked out with all the big boy names; Trip, TwoTribes, Black Lines, Moét, Torres and Forest Feast (the guys who do the almonds).
What is the food like at The Standard?
Really bloody good, and just want you fancy after a few rooftop cocktails. Get girl dinner at the plant-filled Isla terrace on the ground floor – fat olives, zesty sea bream crudo and perfectly salty little anchovy toasts with stracciatella. A grilled Galician chicken came with a simply huge, towering, overflowing pile of skinny, salty fries (in case you were wondering why they’re priced at £9 – now you know). Oh, and breakfast is well worth paying for – the buffet had a bagel station with smoked salmon, piles of cream cheese and all the fillings. In fact the buffet alone is so good you probably don’t need to pay for the full to-order menu, unless you’re an Eggs Benny fiend, which I understand. Everything we tried was excellent.
What are the facilities like at The Standard?
There’s a very nice 24-hour gym with everything you’d want in it, as well as some event rooms and meeting spaces if you’re here on a work trip. But really, you’re here for the bars, aren’t you? The rooftop bar is the hotel’s biggest draw, with cocktail slushies and incredible views over King’s Cross and London’s skyline. There’s also Sweeties bar on the 10th floor, one of our favourites in London, as well as mezcal bar Decimo, and the Library Lounge on the ground floor, which is fabuously cosy for a nightcap after dinner.
What’s the service like at The Standard?
Exactly what you’d expect – slick, flawless and utterly laid back. Setting the standard, if you will. Our service at breakfast was a particular highlight; the waiter flew through the terrace with considerable ease, and had families with young kids howling with laughter.
DETAILS
Address: The Standard, 10 Argyle Street, London, WC1H 8EG
Price: From £217 per night
Nearest transport: King’s Cross station