The Curtain

In 2017, Michael Achenbaum, behind Manhattan’s Gansevoort Hotels, brought downtown New York style to Spitalfields. This purpose-built, loft-looking building is riven with nooks and crannies to cram cool things in—a cellar spa and cinema, an outpost of Marcus Sammuelsson’s Red Rooster Harlem (an American comfort food joint that books fantastic musical acts), a rooftop pool deck with a fab City view (where you take breakfast), and a “member’s club” (Billy’s Bar) with a separate entrance that you, as a guest, may imbibe in. Rooms, too, do things London doesn’t usually do—exposed warehouse-style brick, floor-to-ceiling windows, showers that convert into steam rooms. It’s simply really well-done, quite fun, spacious and modern, and until the area catches onto what’s here, it’s cheaper than it should be (future rates will likely start in the mid-£200s). The rapidly changing neighborhood, as if it needs saying, is where the cool kids are these days.