Joining the Hub Club
why Premier Inn Hub is the place to stay in London
Paul Richards
Whenever I get up to the bedroom at a Premier Inn Hub, which is roughly two or three nights a week, I have a particular ritual. The very first thing I do is to pop open the press-studs on the rolled up duvet, and throw the stripy band of cloth into the corner. If it was your first time, you might think it was held together with the toggles, but no, they are there for show only. The tag says ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’, a saucy invitation which plants a Rolling Stones earworm for the next few hours.
Then I spread out the duvet onto the king size bed, pull the string on the floor-to-ceiling blinds to see if there’s a view. If you book late on the handy app, you might have no view, just an underground room. But you might get lucky and be high in the Marylebone Hub with fantastic views across London, or in one of the Soho Hub rooms overlooking the bustle of Berwick Street market, and the queues for the Breakfast Club.
Next, it’s the complimentary water, then unpacking. The point of the Hub is that every room is near-identical, and every inch is designed with a purpose. I slide out the desk and arrange the green leather chair to make a workstation and plug in the laptop. There are power sockets over the bed, as well as at the desk. There are two clothes hooks by the door, enough for hats, coats, and jackets, and a clever open hanging space for shirts.
Under the bed goes the suitcase and shoes, and then I plug into the television system. The room has a matrix-like system of lighting and entertainment. There are no light switches, just a touch-pad above the bed controlling the temperature and lighting. There’s free Wi-Fi. Every room has the same stylised map of London covering one wall, with the handwritten names of neighbourhoods from Rotherhithe to Notting Hill, Camden Town to Chelsea Embankment.
I am often asked for my favourite Hub. That’s hard, because although the rooms are identical, the locations are not. The Brick Lane one, directly opposite the Jamme Masjid mosque and the Huguenot houses of Fournier Street, is seconds from twenty or more world-class curries, and minutes from Spitalfields Market. The new one in Camden is just off Camden Market. At Clerkenwell, you can stroll to Exmouth Market, or up to Islington’s Upper Street.
Confusingly, there are two in Westminster, and yes I’ve joined the legions who have presented themselves at the wrong one. Goodge Street (not really on Goodge Street) is great for Soho and Bloomsbury. Covent Garden lies at the heart of theatreland. But a personal favourite, if I was pressed to plump for one, is the West Brompton Hub. It’s a little cheaper than the central Hubs, but a few yards from the District Line, and close to Earl’s Court. This is not everyone’s thing, but this Hub is also next to the Brompton Cemetery, one of London’s ‘magnificent seven’ of Victorian cemeteries, and final resting place of Emmeline Pankhurst amongst many others.
Hubs are modelled on the minimalist Japanese pod hotels, aimed at business travellers who demand efficiency, convenience, and things that work. There’s no Corby trouser press, kettle, or room service. The idea is that the room is compact, but the communal area is a shared workspace with free coffee and places to plug in a laptop. The Hub by Premier Inn is a sub-brand within the Whitbread empire, but distinct from, and preferable to, the mainstream Premier Inns (sorry, Lenny). It is also streets ahead of Travelodge, cheaper than the trendy boutiques, and less riskily random than AirBnB.
The first one — the Covent Garden Hub — was opened in 2014. As Hub celebrates its tenth birthday, I foresee nothing but good things for its second decade. My advice to CEO Dominic Paul is simple — keep the prices affordable, invest in the brilliant staff, reduce none of the clever perks and joyful details, and invest in new hotels across London, and beyond, so that more of us can sign up to the Hub Club.
Paul Richards is a writer. He received no fee, gift, or inducement for this article.
