nhow London

nhow London sits on Macclesfield Road, close enough to Old Street station to serve as a Shoreditch hotel while technically sitting nearer the Islington border, and its lobby announces its intentions immediately with a 30 foot rocket built to resemble Big Ben, which sets the tone for everything that follows in the rest of the building.

Designed by the architects Project Orange, the hotel describes its own look as punk meets the Queen, with graffiti inspired art throughout the public areas, a playful royal twist worked into the bathroom fittings, and 190 rooms that lean towards bold pattern and colour over neutral minimalism found at most comparable design hotels.

The design commitment is total rather than partial: guests who prefer a quieter, more conventional hotel room may find the constant visual noise tiring after a night or two, even as the rooms photograph extremely well for anyone documenting the stay online.

Rooms still include the practical basics expected at this price point, bespoke amenities, glass cut tumblers and a comfortable bed among them, and the location, while not deep inside Shoreditch’s main strip, keeps Old Street’s bars and Hoxton Square within easy walking distance for an evening out.

It works well as a one or two night stay built around the design itself as part of the experience, less well as a low key, understated base for a longer business trip where the room needs to fade into the background.

The hotel’s restaurant and bar area on the ground floor carries the same maximalist design language as the rooms, which makes it a striking spot for a drink even for non guests, and it is worth booking regardless of the visual overload some travellers report after a few days. Being part of the NH Hotel Group rather than a fully independent boutique means booking, loyalty schemes and customer service follow a larger, more standardised corporate structure than the design itself would suggest. Breakfast, served in the ground floor restaurant, continues the bold visual theme with the same commitment as the bedrooms, so guests should expect the whole stay, from check in to check out, to lean fully into the concept rather than easing off anywhere in the building.