The four-year-old Locke brand is yet more proof, if you still need convincing, that the classic model of the hotel is on its last legs. In its place is an intriguing, ever-evolving hybrid that feels as if you’re staying at the home of your stylish, well-connected BFF.
Locke’s latest offering is set near London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, its sunlit rooms looking out across the Thames to the Tate Modern. Touched with smoked glass, copper and chrome, its public rooms and 113 studios – available for short or long stays – are the work of Grzywinski+Pons, the New York-based studio lavishing the cavernous open plan spaces in a pastel palette of deeply set, comfy sofas, potted plants, private nooks, and plenty of good lighting for the co-working tribes.
In addition to yoga, meditation and HIIT classes, guests have the option to stay in and cook up simple meals (cookbooks are available to borrow), though less ambitious types will pick up ready-made salads, sandwiches and cocktails from in-house Deli Cat & Sons.
Locke is so bullish about its brand that it’s opening two more London outposts later this year in Bermondsey and Dalston, to add to the current stable in East London, Manchester and Edinburgh.§
