On Thursday night, I was lucky enough to be invited to the relaunch party for Generator Hostel‘s flagship location in Bloomsbury. Needless to say, I was blown away. This was like no other hostel I’d every visited before. Plus with free canapes, drinks, a free photo booth and live music it was a pretty exciting do!
Located in Russell Square, you’re just a hop, skip and a jump away from Covent Garden, Regent’s Park and the British Museum. The building was originally a police section house and then in 1995 it was converted into a hostel. Lately it has been closed for refurbishment, and I have to say, it’s been well worth it! Stylistically it’s a mash-up of historical and cultural elements of London over the years, and each floor is named after a popular fiction English character (eg Alice in Wonderland and Dr Who). But there’s also a games room, a screening room, a lounge, a cafe, a bar and a DJ booth. Oh, and I forgot the piano.
When I first started looking around it made me feel that I had done my first traveling through Europe all wrong. This was certainly not like any hostel that I’d stayed in before. A trendy, boutique hotel, maybe. And then I was lured into absolute excitement by free drinks and the photobooth. (If you follow me on Instagram you may have already caught some of those snaps. But there were many more….) By the time I caught sight of the first waiter walking around with his tray of canapes I was ravenous. As was everyone else, apparently. Watching a group of people at an event descend on the waiter bearing the canapes can only be compared to watching a shark feeding. They were serving mini tacos though, and who doesn’t go crazy for mini tacos?!
Yes, they have a replica routemaster bus inside the hostel.
Bespoke cocktails for the event. A weirdly delicious blend of gin, elderflower and earl grey by Frank’s.
The piano. Too pretty to touch. Until I did.
The tiered screening room for watching films complete with drink rests. Now Sam wants one in our home.
Looking devilishly handsome. And not nearly hipster enough for this party.
An art installation of my new beau.
The beginnings of the DJs set.
The plethora of seating available.
And what’s a good hostel without a bar?
I did love watching the screen broadcasting live tweets of the event.
Having found the one quiet corner.
Do you know that episode of “New Girl” when Nick takes over the photobooth at the wedding? Well, we were those people. Except not as angry. And no one was crying. So basically it wasn’t the same at all except we also lived in a photobooth.
