One Aldwych: Checking Into London’s First B-Corp Hotel

Buzzy, luxe and delightful, One Aldwych is an independent hotel slap bang in the middle of London. And you’d hardly notice it’s one of the city’s most sustainable hotels, too.

Signature Suite

Hotel Review: One Aldwych, London

What does it take to become London’s very first B-Corp hotel? Rather a lot, it turns out. ‘We do so much, but we don’t shout about it,’ says Lee Guiver, Chief Engineer at One Aldwych, a five-star hotel sitting on the nexus of Covent Garden and Aldwych, bang opposite Somerset House. ‘We wanted an affiliation and knew B-Corp was the best. And then we figured out how tough it was…’.

Like all really good sustainable luxury experiences, you wouldn’t have a clue about how tough it was. Walk into the grand 1907 building – once the home of the Morning Post newspaper – and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a fancy London hotel. Slick entrance, smart staff, buzzy lobby bar. There’s a pool and spa in the basement and a fancy restaurant on the mezzanine. But what you don’t see is that the pool uses a sustainable filtration system that avoids chlorine, and the restaurant, strongly reliant on small British suppliers, is also dairy- and gluten-free.

The rooms do a good turn at swanky London crashpad, with a sort of staying-in-a-friend’s-posh-apartment feel – but with a nice sideline in sustainability. I stayed in the two-bedroom Terrace Suite, with, yes, its own terrace looking over Covent Garden’s rooftops and the bright lights of Aldwych. The rooms have an art deco vibe, with white stucco details, velvet sofas and dove-blue or pale coral colours. So far, so luxury. And then there are the details that you enjoy but don’t really notice – like the locally-sourced, refillable bathroom amenities by Mitchell and Peach which smell like a summer meadow, or the free minibar that includes fair trade chocolate, palm-oil free snacks and wine in a can (more sustainable than a bottle).

Deluxe Room

Even the way the loo flushes – and I appreciate that this might be a detail too far – is more sustainable than most, using a suction system that reduces water consumption by 70 percent. Guiver tells me all sorts of figures, from the carbon footprint per room per night (around 23 kg, since you ask, which is lower than the London hotel average of 28–33 kg), and how they are measuring literally everything, from the food waste (100 percent is composted) to the heat leaching from the historical windows (they’re working on it). They are also in discussions with other local businesses about district heating, which harnesses heat from the Underground, local server buildings and turbines in the Thames, although that’s likely to be a few years off.

Down in the bar – packed on a Friday night – there was a long list of cocktails inspired by the 450-strong art collection, while the busy Indigo restaurant served delicious Orkney scallops followed by Highland venison with heritage beetroot and bitter chocolate. Again, all pleasingly luxe. And while even this hotel has a long way to go before it can say it is net zero, zero-waste and all the rest, it’s making a very good start. And the best bit? You won’t even notice.

Indigo

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Double bedrooms start from £650 per night. onealdwych.com