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Trocadero centre to be turned into budget 500-room pod hotel
Ruth Bloomfield12 Aug 2009
The Trocadero is to be turned into a "pod" hotel offering tiny rooms at knock-down prices.
With rooms of just 12 square metres and 17 square metres, the hotel aims to be London's answer to the Pod Hotel in New York and will occupy part of the second to seventh floors in the Grade II-listed building in Piccadilly Circus.
Corridors will run around the outside of the building, and 495 rooms, all ensuite, will be grouped around internal courtyards. A planning application for the scheme, provisionally named the Piccadilly Hotel, will come before Westminster council this week.
New York's Pod Hotel has a loyal following among travellers and critics. The Washington Post praised its design that made the best use of the bedrooms' 10ft by 10ft floorspace.
The newspaper's travel writer Gary Lee wrote: "The Pod is proof that you can be hip on a budget. The rooms are all equipped with iPod docking stations, LCD televisions and free wi-fi. The decor is an inviting mix of mod and Fifties retro." On the downside: "Almost half the rooms have shared baths, and the walls are thin enough that you hear doors shutting down the hall."
National Geographic Traveler magazine described it as: "Hostelling for the 21st century, updated for global flashpackers." The hotel has been reviewed more than 1,100 times on travel website Tripadvisor - and scored an approval rating of 88 per cent, making it one of the most popular in the city.
Some reviewers found the rooms claustrophobic, but others felt the low prices justified the squeeze. Emma Mills, from London, stayed at the hotel in May. She said: "It was compact, but when you're in New York you're not there to sit in a room. I would much rather stay there and have more shopping money."
The Trocadero plan would be a boost for property investor Asif Aziz, whose Golfrate Holdings purchased the building for £225million in 2005. Since then the centre is said to have struggled to attract tenants and, in January, lost one of its most high profile, Planet Hollywood, after 16 years. The restaurant has moved to a new £5million venue in Haymarket. The floors above the third level have been vacant since indoor theme park Segaworld moved out. Westminster's report raises concerns over the lack of natural light or ventilation in rooms. But adds: "It will provide affordable accommodation for visitors to this part of London."
Review
Tom Teodorczuk, in New York
It's goodbye Planet Hollywood, hello Planet Parsimony. I checked into the original New York pod establishment to see what is coming to the West End.
Everything is scaled down. The lift is narrower than a matchstick and the Broadway show flyers are smaller than playing cards. Once I got over how minuscule my £72-a-night minimalist room with ensuite shower was, I relaxed.
The flat-screen TV and wi-fi worked fine and the iPod dock meant I could shuffle my own music. But the frosty white wall was littered with black smudges and the bed was not as soft or comfy as I'd have liked. But the Pod supplied a tranquil experience away from the urban noise, impressive in a city that thrives on not sleeping. When it comes to the Trocadero, it will be ideal for cost-conscious culture vultures or business execs needing to brood prior to a Piccadilly meeting.
Reader views (9)
I can't believe a building of this size and fantastic location can't make it as a shopping mall. It has entrances directly into Piccadilly Circus tube station, frontages on Shaftsbury Ave, Piccadilly Circus and the arterial pedestrian routes to Leicester Sq and Chinatown. That's a footfall that must rival Orchard Road in Singapore, which supports about ten malls of this size. Why isn't the basement/ground floor route between the tube station and Rupert Court (gateway to Chinatown) developed into an open-plan food-court of independent retailers (ie no Burger Kings or such franchises)? This would draw new people into the building, give visitors to the Cineworld on the top floors reason to stay after their movies and improve the chances of retail businesses on the ground and upper floors.
- Rob F, London, UK, 16/07/2010 23:39
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First Oriental City then this. England sucks now. All good things are replaced by bad and expensive hotels, new rubbish shops and homes.
Soon London will have more homes than shops, just like where I live at the moment.
- Reshad, St. Albans, 11/01/2010 11:12
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Oh they so better not touch those arcades...theyve killed troc once....they better not do it again!
- Jackjak, Suffolk UK, 28/09/2009 22:04
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This sounds great! It is good to hear that the Troc is being brought back to life - it has been the centre of West End seed and tack for too long.
- Da, United Kingdom, 28/09/2009 21:04
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£70 plus is hardly "budget minded"
- Sam, London, UK, 28/09/2009 21:04
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£70 for that - rip off!
Most real Londoners avoid these places like the plague. The Troc's a hole. Hasn't been anything decent in it for over nearly 20 years and is full of tourists. The London Pavilion's scarcely better (there used to be some decent shops in there in the late 80s/early 90s) and has never recovered from Rock Circus's closure.
They'd be better bulldozing the above rather than redeveloping Jermyn Street.
The former Virgin Records store across the road (formerly Soco) is another hole - laughably a TKMaxx was rejected on the grounds it wasn't upmarket enough. Instead a tourist tat emporium and olde worlde photo studio has opened.
- Blue Baby, London, 28/09/2009 21:04
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I just checked out the prices on the Pod hotel in New York, and it seems pricey to me. I have stayed at cheaper single bed accommodations (with shared bath) in central Manhattan like the Hotel 17, Hotel 31 or Portland Square Hotel. No iPod docks and flat screen TVs, but cheaper prices, bigger rooms and as central
- Greg Wesson, London, United Kingdom, 28/09/2009 21:04
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Excellent news.
Get rid of 400 MP's and the other 248 layabouts can shack up in a pod - thereby doing away with all the obscene second homes allowances for MP's.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK, 28/09/2009 21:04
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Noooooo! This is terrible news! I love the Trocadero just as it is!
- T Baron, UK, 28/09/2009 21:04
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