If you’re looking for a central place to stay in London where you can enjoy a whole weekend of shopping, food and fun, or maybe you’re just after a little break away with friends and family and fancy somewhere gorgeous to rest your weary heads. Well lovelies, the Andaz London Liverpool Street is right up your street, quite literally!
The Andaz is located a whole 138ft from Liverpool Street Station (which is approximately a 1-minute walk) or a 0.5 second Uber ride if a 60 second waltz up the street isn’t your thing. Its perfect location made my weekend trip to London very convenient, and it made planning my weekend of work extremely simple, as Liverpool Street connected me to everywhere I needed to be.
London can be complicated to navigate, so upon arriving I couldn’t have been happier with the hotel’s perfect location. The hotel has seven bars and restaurants, 14 different event and meeting spaces, a health club, and over 250 rooms and suites, so there was no wonder we were taken aback by the size of this amazing building.
The Andaz is HUGE, and the building is utterly gorgeous and steeped in history. Originally built as the Great Eastern Hotel in 1884, remarkably the site was originally England’s first hospital for the mentally ill, the Bethlehem Royal Hospital which opened in 1247 and became known as ‘Bedlam’.
With all this history, Andaz has managed to preserve the buildings natural beauty and they have brought it gracefully into the 21st century, with its impactful modern decor and stunning design, you can still feel the grandeur and historic beauty. In the hotel reception, I stood in awe for about 5 minutes admiring this vast space before checking in, and whilst I was looking around an observant door man offered to take my bags. Reception offered us a glass of bubbly while we checked in, which was the perfect start to our little trip. We took our cold glasses of bubbly and continued to take in the beautiful interior, which included a gorgeous bar area and a stunning lobby with sofas and chairs, perfect to sit, relax and take in the incredible views.
Check in was extremely chilled and the helpful receptionist gave us all the information we needed with the biggest smile, and after we finished our bubbles, we took the lift to find our room, which was an Andaz Suite. This trip to London was turning out to be amazing.
Just as it was written on the website, the rooms provide a huge amount of space and luxury. The room was modern and the decor was exactly to our taste. The bed was huge (I can confirm incredibly comfortable too), plus we had a drawing table, comfy chairs by the window to take in views of the bustling city, a complimentary mini fridge, flat screen TV, Wi-Fi and Nespresso coffee machine. The bathroom was the size of our bedroom at home, and it was beautifully modern with stunning luxurious finishes. The room was air conditioned which was a god send since we were visiting London on a sweltering weekend, the cool air was very much welcomed.
I particularly loved the art in the bedroom, and around the hotel, showcasing the London street art scene, there are pieces of art dotted around that you may miss if you don’t take a second to absorb everything. There were gorgeous spiralling staircases that flowed with the curved walls, adding depth and beauty to this wonderful hotel.
Although we were visiting London for work, we couldn’t help but get lost even further in the building’s history. One part in-particular was the ballroom with a spectacular stain glassed dome which remarkably survived both WW1 and WW2. If you look closely, you can even see a small piece of red glass which was added after a segment of the dome was damaged during the blitz, now it serves as a poignant reminder of the war and how the building stood strong and survived during this horrendous time.
The hotel was everything we needed during our whirlwind weekend stay trip to London, we adored the bedroom and we longed to enjoy at least one of the seven bars during the evening (especially the 1901 Bar and Restaurant), but couldn’t due to our work commitments, it gives us a great excuse to come again. We did however get to experience the 1901 Restaurant for our buffet style breakfast the next morning.
The architecture was nothing short of incredible with its vast tall ceilings and cupola, we found ourselves enjoying our delicious breakfast whilst admiring the room design, it was genuinely a feast for our eyes and our bellies.
There was so much choice at breakfast, from hot plates (which we could order from the staff), or we could just help ourselves to the hot and cold buffet which had everything from fresh smoothies, honey, eggs, fruit, healthy cereal bowls, to authentic breads, cheese muffins and pastries which would set you up until dinner time. We filled our faces and enjoyed a delicious coffee then headed back to the room to pack.
We were allowed a lazy checkout time and the staff happily stored our bags so we could mooch around London and on returning to collect our bags, we were even offered more complimentary drinks whilst we waiting to catch our train! I could not fault the staff at the Andaz, the service from start to finish was nothing short of spectacular.
So, lovelies, if you’re looking for a 5-star luxury hotel, steeped in history and full of modern perks with beautiful rooms, exquisite service, beautifully comfy beds and the most delicious breakfast for your next trip to London, then make sure you add Andaz London Liverpool Street to your list of places to visit, it will NOT disappoint.
Review and images by Luke Williams @stanleydru
Feature image courtesy of Andaz London Liverpool Street
