Virgin Hotel London Shoreditch

The Virgin Hotels brand may have its roots in swinging Sixties London, but there’s no question it’s kept pace with the times. These days the East End is the undisputed center of all that’s cool, and there’s no more natural setting for the capital’s first Virgin hotel than this, a red brick industrial-style building on a prominent corner in Shoreditch.

In its style it depends rather less on Virgin’s trademark bold brashness than on East London’s characteristic warehouse-loft look. The rooms and suites are almost sober in their neutral tones, and offer more than a little bit of luxury; the common spaces, meanwhile, are where the saturated colors and vivid graphic prints come out to play.

Contained within the hotel is a private members’ club, an outpost of Blue Marlin Ibiza, an unusual way of ensuring that locals are motivated to mix with hotel guests as they frequent the same common spaces. These include a rooftop pool and lounge, a spa and a co-working space, a Mediterranean restaurant, and an “Ibiza-inspired” nightclub. And in the basement is one holdover from the hotel’s previous life: BiBo Shoreditch, a classic Spanish tapas restaurant by the award-winning chef Dani García.