Locke at Broken Wharf, Millennium Bridge — Hotel in London

I stayed here for several nights in late September, when my other arrangements hit a snag. I liked it.

Location: the location is great - it is right next to the river and the walkway that runs along the river. It is close to shops and restaurants and the Mansion House tube stop. The Tate Modern is almost directly across the river, and there are several nearby bridges.

Front desk staff: they were friendly, efficient and helpful.

Room: the room was very nice, but with a couple of oddities. The building is shaped like a dumbbell, with one end at the river and the other end up against a busy road. My room was above the busy road, so my view was largely of other buildings. While the outer windows looked like they would open, a second inner layer of glass did not - this was likely to make the room quieter, which worked. I only got relatively subtle noise from the street. While there was construction going on next door, I think they had finished the really big noisy parts, so I didn't notice any significant construction noise.

Everything was very clean, the bed was comfortable, the shower was really nice, the AC was very quiet and worked well once I managed to decode the controls, there was a small kitchen with a refrigerator and stove (which I didn't use), a reasonably comfortable trendy-looking couch, and a small table with two chairs. Super bonus - there was a clothes washer/dryer in the room! It was small and took a long time to dry, but really handy, as I didn't have to go on a laundromat quest.

The weird/inconvenient stuff - the room was divided into two sections, one with the bed and clothes storage, the other with the kitchen/couch/table/chairs. The bed side had really good lighting (two large pendants with a dimmer) and multiple electrical outlets. The other side had just a tiny LED in the ceiling (just bright enough to keep you from tripping over furniture), a bit of under counter light by the stove, and a small floor lamp by the couch. Even if you put them all on to their brightest setting, it was still rather dim. And the only outlets on that side of the room were one on the counter behind the stove and one behind the couch (that the floor lamp was using). If you put a computer on the table, you could not plug it in. Kind of annoying, especially in a trendy newer hotel. The wifi was really fast though, and seemed secure - I think there may have been a separate router/modem for each room, or at least a separate password.

Food: there is a coffee/pastry place in the lobby, which was good. There is also a separate sit-down restaurant, which is nice. I ate dinner there once, and it was quite good (if a bit slow).

Other: the hallways are painted a matte charcoal or dark green and lit with a few widely spaced little LEDs. I think they were trying to be dramatic, but overdid it a bit, so the feeling is just really surprisingly dark. The signage is good, though, so I could find my room. The lobby is large, and is set up as a co-working space, so you will find a bunch of people there working on laptops. I tried to take Bolt (like Uber) to get to a more distant part of London, and it was a total fail - it took a bit for them to find a driver, and then two of them cancelled, I think because the location is a bit odd/inconvenient via car. I ended up walking out a bit and getting a cab, which are plentiful nearby.

Overall despite the oddities and some inconveniences, I would stay...

Despite the friendly staff at the Locke, our experience upon arrival was not what we had been led to expect. Our rooms were not ready, despite being told we could possibly check in as early as 12:00 noon. The reality is the earliest check-in time is likely to be 2:30 or 3:00pm due to limited cleaning staff. Additionally, there is no front desk number for room issues, and guests are encouraged to use the WhatsApp phone app for communication or walk down to reception each time. Furthermore, the lack of daily housekeeping due to sustainability efforts resulted in a dirty room. The cleanliness issue was evident when I moved a sofa and discovered a shocking amount of dirt underneath and behind the furniture. The glass shades on the lighting hanging directly over our bed were very dusty, as were the fixtures throughout the room.

To make matters worse, our travel companions and I had all reserved and paid for King Beds as advertised on the website, but we were given Queen size beds instead. When I questioned this, I was told it was a “UK King Bed.” We have stayed all over Europe and in the UK at non-American hotels, and the UK King discussion was a first for us. The room layout also posed challenges, as there were no nightstands or entry to the bed on both sides. The bed was essentially shoved against a wall in a corner, making it difficult to enter and exit comfortably. The lack of nightstands made it inconvenient for medical devices/CPAP machines and other items needed during the night and the only option was to lay them on the right side of bed on the floor.

If you require additional towels or room products, it is best to request them in the morning, as front desk staff apparently do not have access to supplies after housekeeping departs for the day and you will likely be told “ as soon as housekeeping arrives in the morning, we will send the items up.” If you run out of soap and want to take a shower plan on using shampoo.

In summary, if you are a young traveler seeking an inexpensive hotel, the Locke may be suitable for you. However, if you are a more mature and experienced traveler, it would be advisable to explore...

This has the potential to be a very nice hotel. Don't try to check in early after your long flight across the ocean. You will be waiting in the lobby for hours watching others get checked in ahead of you. Avoid booking a city studio. It is tiny. The sink in the bathroom is so small that it is virtually unusable without getting water all over yourself and/or the floor. The bed was very uncomfortable and I never got a good night's sleep in the five nights I was there. I was always sinking in toward the middle and I'm not large. Not to mention there is a massive building under construction right next to the hotel. When asking the front desk about moving to a room away from the construction, they said three other people were already on a list to move after complaining about the noise. The woman asked if I would like to be added to the wait list. Yes, obviously. This was on my first night. Of course I never received an offer to change rooms. The construction was so loud. It was difficult to watch the TV or concentrate on anything. In addition to the construction noise, we could hear loud vehicles passing under the nearby underpass morning and night. We could also hear our neighbors above and next to us throughout our stay. The windows must have also been very thin because we could hear people talking on the street every night next to the hotel. One of the lights in the bathroom was out. Common US amenities like bar soap, washcloths, q-tips etc. were not available, but that was not a surprise. The TV allowed us to plug in our streaming stick. So that was one good thing about this hotel. There was a refrigerator, dishes, dish soap, etc. The location was pretty convenient for getting around. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash products smelled great. So did the hotel. However, the construction really should be mentioned on the website as it is obviously ongoing and many people are complaining about it at the hotel. I would not stay here again because of the lack of accommodation and transparency around the extreme...