Wombat’s City Hostel

The building was originally built as a home for seamen and its former residents have included novelist Joseph Conrad, who stayed here several times between 1879 and 1884, and it was converted into a backpackers’ hostel and has operated as Wombats since 2014.

Although it’s not as glamorous as a fancy hotel, Wombats is a step up from your average hostel and a lot of thought has gone into the public areas of the hostel in order to foster a convivial atmosphere.

It is a large hostel that can accommodate up to 640 guests with accommodation is in four-, six- and eight-bed dorms. All the dorms feature a reading light, USB charging socket and locker for each bed and an en suite bathroom in each room. Five of the rooms are wheelchair accessible.

There are also several private double rooms, all with en suite bathrooms, which are as good as rooms at most hotels. Private rooms are considerably more pricey than the dorms, and more pricey than budget hotel chains like Premier Inn and Travelodge, but this is a much more atmospheric place to stay than a generic chain hotel.

It has excellent public areas including a communal kitchen, a nice courtyard and a spacious lobby area with lots of areas to sit and just hang out. There is also the excellent basement bar, which is a great spot for surprisingly cheap beer under Victorian-era brick-vaulted archways.

Overall, Wombats is clean and modern inside with an emphasis on design, which gives it a hip ambience.

The surrounding neighbourhood is characterised by modern blocks of flats and office buildings interspersed with the odd relic from the East End’s more down-to-earth past. In general, the neighbourhood is more gentrified with flash new multi-storey buildings as you head south from the hostel and it has a more traditional East End feel as you head north.

There is quite a lot to see within a short walk from the hostel. Within a 15-minute walk, you can get to Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and Brick Lane and it is only a short walk beyond the Tower to all the sights of The City and Southwark.

Aldgate East (in zone one on the District and Hammersmith & City lines) is an eight-minute walk from Wombats and Aldgate (Circle and Metropolitan lines) and Tower Hill (Circle and District lines) are only a few minutes farther away. The hostel is also close to Tower Gateway DLR station.