Blackfriars is one of those bits of London it’s very easy to overlook. For Londoners, it’s typically a place to pass through or change trains. For visitors, well, it’s not exactly packed with must-see tourist hotspots, is it? As it happens, all of the above makes it a very fine base from which to explore the city. And the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars is, frankly, a very fine base within that very fine base.
It’s oddly easy to miss. Like a true Londoner, I’ve travelled through Blackfriars any number of times and never noticed it until I had cause to visit one of their restaurants, Chinese Cricket Club, for a feature a few years ago. And like a true Londoner, I then pretty much forgot it existed again… until the opportunity arose to stay there one weekend.
It’s an impressive chunk of property: Grade II-listed in fact. It also has a fascinating history, residing as it does on the former grounds of King Henry VIII’s Bridewell Palace, originally built around 1515. Since then, it’s seen many facades and uses, including a public school, and a prison. There’s a nod to the latter via the hotel’s Leaf & Cane cocktail bar, which uses the former women’s cells as semi-private outdoor seating.
Staying at Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars
Rooms, even at the basic level, are comfortable and spacious. There’s a pleasingly minimal feel to the room but the bed is comfortable, climate control is easy to use – a lesson a LOT of hotels could learn frankly – there’s a big TV, a powerful shower, coffee and tea making facilities and fast WiFi. More than that is just details, right?
The location means you can get pretty much anywhere in a matter of minutes. You’re well served by the Tube and buses, and it’s a short and pleasing riverside stroll to options such as The National Theatre and all the Southbank has to offer, Covent Garden or the myriad culinary delights at Borough Market.
Dining at Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars
Saying that, you can also just pop downstairs to the hotel’s own dining options. As well as the aforementioned Leaf & Cane, there’s City Lounge, in the lobby, for baked goods and decent coffee through the day. There’s a decent bistro, NYnLON, with a menu – as the name suggests – inspired by New York and London, where neatly executed comfort food is, typically, order of the day.
The other location, as also mentioned above, is the Chinese Cricket Club, a strange name for an actually very solid restaurant, offering decent dim sun, some classic Chinese dishes in small plate/sharing style, some interesting reinventions – sweet and sour Iberico pork, for example – and a range of good value set menus, including a £24 lunch to which I’ve detoured back a couple of times since.
According to the website, there are also three spacious meeting rooms, for those looking for a very central location for events and gatherings, and, apparently, a 24/7, state-of-the-art fitness centre. I preferred to undo my excesses though by walking across the bridge and along the Thames to Borough Market… where I promptly rewarded my sensible approach with a Ginger Pig sausage roll. But, you know, gym, if you’re into such things.
Coming to London for a long weekend or a show? With the City types and workers fleeing the capital from Thursday now, Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars comes into its own at weekends and, for now, feels like something of an undiscovered gem. There’s much to recommend it, frankly.
Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars
19 New Bridge Street
City of London
London
EC4V 6DB
United Kingdom
