Hotel Indigo London Clerkenwell by IHG

+ Spotless, brand new and well designed hotel with excellent service and quiet, well laid out rooms. Ten min walk to Barbican or Farringdon stations with many coffee/ shop options nearby. The attached pub is another plus...

+ Excellent check-in and stay - although we were disturbed by people in an adjoining room. Excellent new hotel though.

+ Perfect new hotel. Suited our weekend in London - close to the Barbican theatre and train network. Would highly recommend

+ Lighting errors.

+ Lack of design. Nothing is thought through. For example, you can only turn the lights off from the main switch at the door, so you have to go back to bed in the dark!! The bathroom light is on a timer so if you don’t want the stark TK Maxx lightning on in the bathroom (who wants that when they’re showering) you need to jump out the shower and jump back in again. Madness!! The pillows are like bricks. Decor is all over the place. It’s like they’re trying to tick a box on recent trends but it all ends up feeling soulless. The lounge isn’t relaxing. I wanted to get coffee but I couldn’t stay in there longer than 3 minutes, felt like I was being interrogated. I usually stay at the Virgin down the road but it was full, so I thought I’d give this new one a try. I’m spoiled because Virgin has a very relaxing lounge bar with soft lighting where you just don’t want to leave. Also they advertise gym and there is no gym.

+ I think the hotel has only recently opened or been renovated. It was absolutely beautiful inside. The staff were really friendly, the bar and restaurant is lovely, and the bedroom was great. We had an adjoining door, which meant that when the guests next door got in at 3.30am we were woken up by them, as it sounded as if they were in the room with us. If you need an adjoining room this wouldn’t be an issue, but it’s something to keep in mind if you don’t want that. This isn’t anything the hotel could have solved, it’s just a general issue with adjoining rooms/doors. Other than that it was a lovely stay.