At last: a London hotel that’s great for groups and extended stays

If you find yourself in the area surrounding London’s Victoria Station, chances are you’re just passing through. In fact, some 50 million commuters pass through the rail hub annually. The July, a 114-room hotel that opened on Vauxhall Bridge Road this summer, is making a different bet: that you’ll want to stay a while – potentially a long while.

The July London Victoria is one of the newest apartment-hotels – a hospitality concept that blends studio living with the perks of a luxury hotel stay – to touch down in London, and there’s no limit to how long you can stay. Looking for a day trip to London? Spend the night. Between apartments? Book in for a few weeks. You can even book a room for as long as a year, should you desire. ‘That’s the beauty of it,’ says Caitriona McGachy, The July’s head of design.

The July got its start 13 years ago in Amsterdam, where it opened the first-ever aparthotel in the Netherlands. It has since opened multiple locations in Amsterdam (Boat & Co and Twenty-Eight) and has plans to expand into Dublin and Lisbon in the coming year. If you’re expecting a step above Airbnb, think again: The July aims to deliver easy-going luxury that puts contemporary design front and centre. Here’s what you need to know.

Wallpaper* checks in at The July London Victoria

What’s on your doorstep?

Located just a four-minute walk from London Victoria Station in Central London, The July is the ideal launchpad for getting around the city, whether you’re in town to sightsee or to work. While the immediate area can feel soulless (there are corporate hotels and new-construction office buildings aplenty here), you only need to hoof it a few minutes to find some of London’s most iconic landmarks. Stroll 20 minutes north-east on Victoria Street, and you’ll run smack into Westminster Abbey, the Palace of Westminster and fantastic views of Big Ben on Westminster Bridge. Head 15 minutes north and you’ll find yourself in front of Buckingham Palace and its lush parks. If musicals are your thing, you also have the benefit of two theatres right on your doorstep – the Apollo Victoria, which is home to Wicked and the Victoria Palace, where my mom and I caught a last-minute production of Hamilton.

Who is behind the design?

For the Victoria location, The July teamed up with London and LA-based architecture and design office Fettle – a firm that’s known for creating some of the most exuberant hospitality spaces in London (See: Cicchetti Piccadilly and the Gessner). ‘In this neighbourhood, there’s a mix of traditional and corporate hotels,’ says Andy Goodwin, Fettle’s creative director and co-founder. ‘You could see quite quickly that this was going to be different.’

Though the building itself was new, Goodwin and his team wanted to incorporate subtle homages to the neighbourhood, from the green of the area’s royal parks to details found in local historic buildings. Art deco, a style that defines the stately Apollo Victoria theatre just across the street, is perhaps the biggest reference, but the design team didn’t want to smack you in the face with razzle-dazzle pastiche; instead the rooms, lobby and in-house restaurant incorporate soft, sweeping silhouettes; stepped tray ceilings and mouldings; bespoke patterned carpets and geometric terrazzo flooring, among other nods. ‘There's a lot of reinterpretation of classic art deco details, but none of it is meant to feel like it’s a recreation of old,’ Goodwin says.

In the communal, ground-floor areas, there are hits of Fettle’s signature maximalism, from flame-stitch fabric on the dining room banquettes to quirky lamps sourced from British makers to porthole windows in the vestibule. ‘There’s a playfulness that came in,’ Goodwin adds.

The room to book

The July has 114 apartments, which start at £300 a night: from petite 250 sq ft studios, ideal for short trips, to 950 sq ft three-bedroom flats that accommodate longer-term or family stays. No matter what the footprint, though, each comes with a king-size bed, and its own fully-equipped kitchen and dining area – no small feat, considering London’s pricey real estate. In fact, Fettle and The July team created full-size mock-ups of the rooms out of cardboard and assembled them in an Amsterdam car park to get the layouts just right. ‘We probably worked through ten or 15 different plans,’ Goodwin says.

Couples and solo travellers would be smart to book the Premium Executive Apartment, which offers plenty of space, like its own sitting area, to stretch out for extended visits. The palette calms down considerably in the suites, which are all topped with a ceiling painted in a soothing mint green. Scalloped headboards reference art deco glamour (the Amsterdam locations reference canal houses), while there are other throwback touches, like midcentury-inspired furniture and a mustard-yellow rotary phone on the desk, a detail my mom loved. One of the most surprising spaces is the pint-size bathroom, painted in the perfect shade of blush with checkerboard wall tiles to match. There’s a fun local reference hidden in the pattern: the checked exterior of the Page Street flats, social housing designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s.

The kitchen, though small, includes everything you might need for a home-cooked meal, from pots and pans down to (I was delighted to discover) matching tea towels and oven mitts. ‘It's all part of the experience. Not everybody will notice, but for the people who do, it’s worth doing’ says McGachy.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

Most visitors won’t be keen to whip up, say, coq au vin in their suite when London’s vibrant culinary scene awaits. Luckily, you needn’t look far: The July includes its own restaurant, the Idler. The name comes from a poem by American writer Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson and is meant, like the broader hotel, to encourage taking it easy for a spell.

The environs certainly help: a dreamy mural created by artist Eliza Downes floats over the space, replete with abstract geometric shapes meant to evoke a stroll through the Victoria neighbourhood. The menu, too, with a Mediterranean twist on British classics, is also sure to bring you comfort, whether you’re noshing on piping hot leek and cheddar arancini, tucking into a juicy pan-roasted guinea fowl, or treating yourself to blackberry-topped panna cotta. Looking for a tipple before going out on the town? Sidle up to the Arabescato marble bar for a negroni or one of the Idler’s takes on a gin and tonic. The bar is open until 11 pm, but if you’re craving something after-hours, you can grab a beer from the honesty bar at the far end of the lobby.

Where to switch off

All that relaxation might have you itching to break a sweat. You can either lace up your trainers and jog your way to the Thames or Green Park (I was still sore from running a marathon the week before, so eschewed any kind of exertion), or hit the gym downstairs, which comes equipped with weights, a treadmill, a stationary bike and a cherry red-painted ceiling. There’s also a wellness area, where you can find a sauna and a cold shower.

The verdict

The July takes time to train its staff (employees are sent to Amsterdam to tour the properties there), and it shows. When my mom and I arrived hours before check-in time, we were allowed to drop off our bags and use the wellness facilities to freshen up before diving into some sightseeing at Westminster Abbey. After a whirlwind day of playing tourist, it was a relief to come back to a calming place and be greeted with a smile.

Between the commuters and travellers, the area immediately surrounding Victoria Station can feel transient, but The July provides a place that offers a homely respite amid it all. It also offers something that can be hard to come by when visiting a big city: flexibility, especially when it comes to travelling with family or a group. For someone seeking a mix of convenience, creativity and creature comforts, the July simply cannot be beat.

The July London Victoria is located at 282 Vauxhall Bridge Rd, London SW1V 1BB, UK