You might remember that a little while ago I told you about my trip to London to stay at the fab new Z Hotel in Covent Garden. Last weekend, we were due to meet a lovely friend in London for his leaving drinks (bon voyage, Kelly!), so we decided to make a night of it and have a mini weekend break at the Z Hotel in Soho. It’s a brilliant location, literally right next to the Palace Theatre in London, so it’s absolutely perfect if you’re going to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (we’re planning a return visit when this happens), or if you just want to be right in the centre of things for eating out, going to the cinema in Leicester Square, exploring Covent Garden, shopping on Oxford Street or whatever else you have planned.
We honestly didn’t plan it (cough) but we arrived just in time for the free cheese and wine that’s offered at all of the Z Hotels branches (it’s served from 5-8pm downstairs in the sweet little café area and upstairs too). Our room was on the first floor, and happily just by the lovely outdoor terrace, complete with very chic heater thing (it probably has a proper name, but I’ve no idea what it is), so we sat and nibbled cheese, crackers, olives and hummus, washed down with a delicious, chilled Viognier or two.
Complimentary cheese wine and nibbles by the outdoor heater
We were saying how perfect this would be if you were heading to the theatre or cinema – some delicious wine and cheese to set you up for the evening and keep you going until post-show dinner.
As at the Z Covent Garden, our room was compact, with a super-comfy double bed, wet room and loo, cleverly designed to fit in a tiny space. We had a fantastic view over the front entrance to the Palace Theatre too. What I love about Z Hotels is that everything feels really nice quality, so although the rooms are compact, you still get that feeling of being spoiled, which is so important when you’re treating yourself to a night away from home. The beds have beautiful, high quality linen, the TV is super high tech HDTV with all the channels and there are lovely, complimentary toiletries in the rooms, as well as tea and coffee making facilities.
There’s a choice of rooms, starting from a single room, the next choice up is inside double (10 – 12 square metres); then a double with a window like ours; an accessible double with a specialist shower, lowered hand basin, etc; and a larger queen sized double (13 – 14 square metres).
We walked to meet our friends at Archer Street, and then when it finally got too loud (I felt like I’d yelled in everyone’s faces and not actually heard much of what was said in reply), we said our goodbyes and headed out into the night to explore. I recognised the entrance to Ham Yard so we wandered into the hotel for a drink and ended up staying for a whole bottle (the people watching opportunities at the Ham Yard Hotel are legendary).
We also realised we might be quite near our favourite little tapas place, Pix Pintxos, just around the corner from the Soho Hotel, so we made a last minute decision to head there for late night tapas.
The next morning we decided to just eat breakfast downstairs in the Z Café (you can add it on at time of booking for £9.50 a person). The spread isn’t quite as sumptuous as the one in Covent Garden (maybe because the whole café area is much smaller), but the staff will make you a bacon sandwich or you can just toast bagels and crumpets and snack on the delicious granola, yoghurts, cereals and things.
Grab a super affordable hotel room in London
I think I mentioned this before, but though Z Hotels officially offer room rates from £70 for an inside double, there are times when this can be more like £180. The trick is to choose Sunday nights, bank holidays and school holidays as prices tend to be more affordable then. For example, on quite a few Sundays in August you can book a single room for £60 and a double for £72. And if you join the Z Membership programme, you’ll get an extra 7.5% discount (from market rate at the time of booking), early check-in/late check-out, 20% discount on food and drinks (not breakfast) and extended cheese & wine tinings if you check in after 8pm.
Thank you so much to the lovely people at Z Hotels for very kindly giving our room to us on a complimentary basis. We had the best time.
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