Aethos London Shoreditch Is An Atypical East London Hotel With A Naughty Side

Should you approach Aethos London Shoreditch from its front, on Willow Street and opposite the Hoxton, your first impression will be that this is a sensible, restrained hotel, styled as a typical East London warehouse building. Tall glass windows reveal a softly-lit reception replete with warm wood panels, soft furnishings and textile art hanging behind the main greeting desk. There is also a formidable coffee machine by a café-bar and a legion of well-dressed creatives typing away at laptops at public hot desks. So far, so Shoreditch. Yawn.

Oh, ho, ho. How wrong you are. Divert yourself to Great Eastern Street to see Aethos’ ‘party-in-the-back’. Having opened in October 2025 on the site of the former Nobu Shoreditch, it has inherited the by-now iconic Ron Arad ‘frayed’ exterior. The building slopes at a lazy 45 degree angle interrupted at intervals with balconies supported by overextended, jutting steel and concrete beams; it feels as though the building has been sliced uncleanly in two. This undone look is not the only element of Nobu Shoreditch it has retained – design elements inside are similarly industrial, with exposed concrete forming the internal palette of the suites and rooms. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. From Great Eastern Street, spy one of the rooms with the little balconies – it is vital that you book these rooms in particular. In my case, it’s the East End Balcony room. 

The balcony suites at Aethos are well worth plumping for

If ‘undone’ is the word that comes to mind for the outside, the hotel’s rooms also ask that you cut loose a bit. The hotel is running a ‘break the rules’ campaign that’s all about the literal pleasures in life. So the minibar stocks condoms packaged up with a lube and vibrator (natch), and Gillian Anderson’s G Spot, a nootropic drink that purports to rev your engines. (There’s stuff of non-sexual utility, too, with brown paper bag crisps, sour sweeties and bottles of fizz). And in keeping with the sex, sex, sex of the space, you can flick through the in-house magazine which is a catalogue of leggy, topless European women laughing and lounging and quoting that they’ve started on the wine by breakfast and the kids are having ice cream for dinner. If it sounds louche, it’s not – it’s fun and the world is too serious these days, anyway. There’s a slick-looking ashtray sitting on the balcony that I quite admire in the age of the vape – hedonism is well and truly alive here (although the desk does remind guests that this is a no-smoking hotel). 

The suites at Aethos take a slick and modern approach to interior decorating

Should you naturally think of bedtime, there’s a pillow for you. In fact, there are several across a complete menu. Maybe you need a Smooth Operator, filled with duck feathers and down, or the Scented Snoozer with its calming notes of lavender eucalyptus or chamomile. For those who want a cuddle, there’s the c-shaped Hugger. And so on. Of course, your head won’t touch any of these pillows before a shower in the compact but kitted-out bathrooms, where there’s a full range of Woods Copenhagen toiletries to douse yourself with, as well as (in some rooms) a freestanding tub. 

Where to go for a nightcap? Well, there’s the lobby café – which will more than do the job. After the creatives leave – there’s a curfew for screens at 5pm – it transforms into a swish and comfy place to grab a glass of wine and a small plate (wash down the gochujang blue cheese chicken bites with an Argentinian chardonnay). But the downstairs restaurant Mitsu is the place to visit if you want a scenier meal. 

Mitsu is located at the former site of Shoreditch’s Nobu restaurant

Guests can take a lift downstairs to a discreet backdoor into the restaurant and sneak into the DJ-soundtracked dining room feeling like a celebrity, but for civs the official entrance is through a sunken courtyard at the industrial cross-section of the hotel. Though it’s mid-week on my visit, Mitsu is busy with diners I won’t see at breakfast the next day – the primary demographic seems to be beautiful couples and groups of friends at matching levels of aura. 

And it’s good, too, with flowing drinks. The menu is long, but there are guided options, including a chef’s choice sushi omakase, and the team can walk you through what to order and how to pair it with drinks. Cocktails like the Koto Spritz pair Asian flavours with European spirits (it pits a sparkling saké against Sarti and a French rosé), and similarly a globetrotting wine list spotlights how these regions’ tastes can work together. Naturally, there’s also a saké menu – including a highly recommended £4 saké serve which arrives in a little saucer and filled to the brim. (This, it is explained, is intended to be sipped first from table-level, and then you should knock back the saucer to catch the spillage). 

A sake serve at Mitsu – expect spillage

As Rapture by Blondie gets a remix treatment in the background, so too does London’s increasingly popular rotisserie chicken. If you can be pulled away from the raw stuff, the restaurant’s robata (charcoal grill) menu is worth a look in. Its spatchcocked baby chicken, slathered in black garlic tare, is a menu highlight. Or try one of its sandos – the pork one with a thick sleeve of crackling is a lighter bite with a kewpie sriracha mayo to the side. 

It is interesting that, in the reinvention of the hotel and the changing of tenants, some things remain very much the same. Where Nobu was a slick Japanese restaurant, so is Mitsu. But Mitsu has deliberately set a higher energy than its predecessor, and possibly aligns more with spots like Sexy Fish. But for all the party-energy, its kitchen still takes itself seriously enough – it just wants you to have fun with the good food (and, once again, we’re back to cutting loose). It’ll certainly set you up for a night out in on its doorstep, too, in one of London’s most exciting creative quarters. You’re just moments from some legendary nightclubs – like XOYO – or upscale bars like the Seed Library and Nightjar. But how tempting to stay in, when – as established – it already has the ‘party-in-the-back’.

Final Word

Aethos London Shoreditch and its excellent Japanese restaurant Mitsu wants you to have fun – however that might look for you. A slick design-first hotel with a plummy location in one of London’s creative barycentres, and with easy access to the centre of town, too.  

C&TH Key Notes

Room to book: The balcony rooms which sit on the frayed side of the hotel – it’s a good spot to watch East London life pass by.

Must-do: There’s a steam room in the basement that’s worth hitting your pores with.

Dish to ask for: The spatchcocked chicken from the robata menu at Mitsu its hi-fi sushi restaurant.

Drink to order: A saké shot – it’s a very easy-to-drink saké and there’s fun ceremony to stooping to sip it.

Place to visit: Nightjar is almost close enough to touch – head there for a pre-dinner drink. 

Best item in the minibar: Alongside the pleasure pack, you’ll find boxes including life-saving chargers, tampons and painkillers – should you be caught out.

BOOK IT

Doubles from £237 a night, and suites from £433, aethos.com