The Standard London Is A Gem Hidden In Plain Sight

If King’s Cross or St Pancras is your terminus, you will know The Standard London. And even if you don’t know that this 1974 Brutalist landmark, formerly the Camden Town Hall Annex, is home to the trendy global hotel group, you will recognise it for the tomato-red pill-shaped pod zipping up and down the building’s side, delivering a fresh batch of diners directly to Peter Sanchez-Iglesias’s vibrant Spanish-Mexican restaurant Decimo with each trip into the sky.

The Standard London is known for its tomato-red elevator.

Stepping out of those train stations during rush hour is like being swept into a current. Commuters, tourists, wheeled luggage, announcements bouncing off the concrete. Then you cross Euston Road to the Bloomsbury side, and glide through the glass doors of The Standard London, opposite the Gothic drama of St Pancras. The rush stops. The chaos melts away. You’ve entered The Standard’s corner of the London universe.

With three restaurants and two bars, ‘universe’ is nary an overstatement. And right from the threshold, The Standard London’s residents reveal themselves: guests tapping on laptops beside reception, creatives with that cool je ne sais quoi strolling in and out of rooms, families wheeling a mound of luggage over from the Eurostar. It’s also from this threshold that this design hotel makes its mission statement clear: expensive without feeling precious, cool without being cold. Seven years after it welcomed its first guests, The Standard London – the brand’s first hotel outside of America – is still achieving what it set out to. (Now owned by Hyatt, there are outposts across four continents.)

The Library is a cosy corner on the ground floor.

The deeper you move through the ground floor, the more this is affirmed. Take The Library – a nod to this floor’s past life as the Camden Council Library – with all of its brown leather, low lighting, lacquered study tables, soft carpets and red accent tones. Despite the heat beating down on the pavements outside, blasted by aircon, this kind of space you could work or read in for hours, and it’s here that I finally felt cosy after a month in front of the fan. To the left, one of those three restaurants, Isla, glows with warm lighting and beckons with tasty smells wafting from the kitchen.

Recently reimagined as a neighbourhood wine bar, Isla’s menu offers seasonal, Mediterranean-inspired plates. I sated my appetite by crunching on the stracciatella on anchovy toast – a light, fresh bite that was salty and creamy in equal measure – before perusing the full menu with a glass of Château Minuty. The sea bream crudo with meyer lemon is a well-crafted, thinly sliced starter, while for mains I opted for the lemon sole doused in unctuous brown butter and sprinkled with blood orange. The side of potato frites deserves a mention: they come shaved thin as angel hair, piled playfully, almost comically high, oily and salty and moreish. For pudding, the pistachio éclair with dark chocolate felt nostalgic and light at once.

Isla has been recently reimagined as a neighbourhood wine bar.

The atmosphere is hushed and convivial, and on a Monday evening admittedly transitional, with many solo diners fuelling up on their business travels (lucky them, to be staying here). Later in the week, this is the kind of space you’d book for a date night and linger in late. Come morning, breakfast is served here, too: a small but comprehensive buffet, excellent coffee, and a menu of hot dishes cooked to order.

Down here, there is also Double Standard, the hotel’s American diner-meets-British pub concept that serves heartier fare, beers and cocktails. Upstairs, 266 rooms await sleepy heads and achey bodies from a day of exploring the capital, ranging from Standard King Interior rooms to Terrace Suites with outdoor bathtubs. Design styles range from bold and brash to more bookish, ’70s styles. My large room fully embraced the mid-century modern vibe I was tantalised by downstairs. Airy and light-filled with cavernously high ceilings, the furniture felt natural and comforting, anchoring the space: a brown leather headboard, a pin-striped carpet, a low-slung bed topped with Italian sheets, a desk tucked into a light-filled corner. Floor-to-ceiling windows framed Bloomsbury, the BT Tower, the Orwellian Senate House and, well, the whole of London really. You could play at naming the sites poking through the horizon for hours, though it is nearby St Pancras that looms largest, Gothic and competing with The Standard for height against the cerulean sky.

Some Suites at The Standard London boast spectacular city views.

Higher still, find The Standard’s other restaurants and bars: Mexican restaurant Decimo on the tenth floor, along with cocktail bar and discoteque Sweeties; and The Rooftop bar in the open air with its panoramic city views and lime green astroturf. Visit for pre- and post-dinner drinks and epic sundowners.

King’s Cross has transformed over recent years, and The Standard London is an ideal base to experience it all from. Buzzy Coal Drops Yard with all of its shops, pop-up markets and restaurants is less than a 15-minute stroll away, while culture vultures can pounce on the Welcome Collection, the British Library, Queer Britain and Bloomsbury in general. If you would like to pack the best spots into a weekend visit, The Standard London’s partnership with Mr & Mrs Smith makes it all the easier. Aptly named The Weekend Standard, guests benefit from a curated neighbourhood guide woven with special partner offers, plus complimentary room upgrades and breakfast.

With King’s Cross St Pancras tube station just steps away, the entire city is at your fingertips. This also makes The Standard London the perfect overnight base for anyone catching the Eurostar or arriving into it. Just make sure your Parisian lodgings are equally cool.

The Standard London feels homely, like your most stylish friend’s spare bedroom.

C&TH Key Notes

—Room to request: The clue’s in the name: The Premium King View comes with the very best views over London.

—Dish to order: Go on, indulge in the potato frites at Isla.

—Place to drink: Sip a cocktail on The Rooftop at sunset.

—Explore nearby: Booklovers, some of the capital’s very best bookshops are in easy reach, including Gay’s The Word, Word on the Water, the giant Waterstones on Gower St and more.

The Last Word

You could stay for one night or several, in a small room or a sprawling suite, and The Standard London would feel like your uber-cool friend’s well-appointed spare bedroom. And with lots of stellar drinking and dining options, despite the whole city and even Paris being within reach, you’ll find it hard to tear yourself away.

Book It

Rooms start from £255 per night. The Weekend Standard package is available until 30 December 2026 and includes breakfast, a complimentary room upgrade, and a curated neighbourhood guide. Book at standardhotels.com/london