The Gate London, Gateway To The City

Whitechapel is a vibrant area of London, and The Gate is a cool aparthotel perfectly positioned for visitors with an appetite to explore.

ApartHotel England London Whitechapel

Editor , 25th May 2022 / 744

We try to get to London at least once a year (to get a Heat magazine) and we’re always looking for new locations and hotels. The Gate near Whitechapel popped up on our radar so we logged on to thetrainline.com.

The Gate is an aparthotel, a cool cross between an apartment and a hotel. We’ve stayed on a few previously and they work very well. The Gate is on White Church Lane near Whitechapel. It’s just down the road from the Gherkin so, never having stayed in that area, we thought we’d give it a shot.

It worked out very well indeed. Armed with our Oyster card, from Aldgate, Aldgate East or Whitechapel tube stations we could explore most of central London within twenty minutes. Locally there are some excellent restaurants, pubs with live music and eateries. We had intended on seeing a movie at the Curzon cinema and bar around the corner but just ended up in the bar area chatting – next time perhaps, we were just too chilled.

The Gate is within a short walking distance of London’s most creative and vibrant areas of Shoreditch, Hoxton and Hackney, all alive with street art, independent restaurants and great bars. The iconic Tower Bridge and the riverfront are also a mere ten-minute walk away. Honestly, you won’t be bored.

Our ‘studio’ at The Gate was compact and bijou, as you’d expect, and was fine for our purposes. Tastefully designed, and being on the seventeenth floor, we had some great views across London. There are larger rooms available, and The Gate has an excellent website where all is explained. We particularly loved the king size Hypnos bed, the shower and excellent toiletries, and the lounge area on the fifth floor (which is also where breakfast is served). You can order a meal too, but we grabbed a couple of steaks from the rather excellent Micro Food Centre across the street and cooked them in the room on our first evening.

On our second evening, liking Turkish food (we love Keyif in Penarth), we thought we’d try Efes just five minutes away (we’d passed it earlier in the day). We were lucky to get a table and weren’t disappointed. The tender lamb shish was perfect, as was the service. We can certainly recommend.

Whenever we visit any area in London, we ask ourselves two questions. Would we return and would we stay in the same hotel (or aparthotel)? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes. The area had a real buzz about it and The Gate mirrors that energy and creativity (and it’s pretty reasonably priced). The staff are excellent and couldn’t be more helpful. I wish we could have stayed for a few more nights. Two was great but there’s such a lot to see and do around there, three or four nights would have been perfect.