URBAN VILLA, WEST LONDON

A few weeks ago I received an invite to a sleepover in Brentford, West London for a night at a new hotel called Urban Villa. The invite promised cocktails from Soulshakers, dinner from The Beefy Boys, (recent winners of 'Best Burger' at the World Food Awards) live music and DJing. I was sold.... nearly. I had the small matter of a pop up the next night at my house for 19 people so after looking through my menu and cooking schedule I decided that I would be able to sneak away from the house for the Friday night to spend it at Urban Villa, but I would have to be on my best behaviour and be out and back home by 8am the next morning - one of which I achieved.... One thing that helped this plan was the fact that Urban Villa is less than a mile from our house. I was all booked in, and looking forward to a night away from home with the boy (partners were also invited, luckily, as it would've been a bit weird filling hotel rooms with solo guests!)

Friday night suddenly arrived and I whizzed home after work to do a little bit of cooking and prep for the pop up, pack a bag and head down to Urban Villa. The minute we left the house I felt like I'd left a small child at home on its own (my pop up) but when we arrived at the hotel and a glass of bubbly was put in my hand, all thoughts of my impending pop up seemed to get further and further away....!

Urban Villa is a unique concept - it is a hotel cross with a BnB. Each room is in fact a mini apartment - ours had a spacious entrance hallway, double bedroom, large living area with a fully functional kitchen (which includes the all important Nespresso machine), bathroom with 2 different shower heads and a large bath, and a wraparound enclosed balcony that covered the full perimeter of the flat, with the ability to open the sides to the elements - not much of a view looking straight onto the M4 but nice to get some 'fresh' air all the same. Rather than having the costs of running a concierge, spa and restaurant onsite, Urban Villa offer more of a self service option. You can cook what you like in the kitchen in the rooms, you can book a spa therapist for in-room treatments and if you want to venture out for food, Urban Villa have a long list of local, rated, recommended restaurants and bars (Ealing Park Tavern is a 5 minute walk away).

However, on the night we visited they'd catered for all our needs. Beefy Boys were there to provide delicious, cheesy burgers, which we made a beeline for as soon as we'd finished our first drinks. Their burgers are really good, and they sprinkle their chips with some sort of truffly magic that makes them some of the best chips I've tried.
 

 

 

After stuffing our faces with oozy, cheesy burgers and truffle chips it was time to head inside for the grand tour. I thought this was going to be a tour of the rooms to see the different layouts, but they had other, much more exciting plans in store for us. On the 9th floor, 4 of the rooms had been converted into hubs for the evening - there was a playroom (Xbox, beer, foodie treats and the Man U - Cambridge game on TV), a pamper room with a juice bar, massages and manicures (which I avoided in favour of the rum bar - not big, and not clever...), a sleep room where you could try out the various mattresses on offer at the hotel (they cater for your requirements so you can choose between soft, medium or hard) and finally a tequila room. Yes, a room where you could sample 4 types of mezcal and tequila.

 

 

 
Having sampled most of what was on offer in the rooms upstairs we headed down for a cocktail - tequila and ting for me, delicious, though you can't really go wrong with it! It was buzzing in the lobby area, when tunes were being blasted out by the DJ.

We eventually headed to bed, heads spinning from so much booze!!

It's not all self service at Urban Villas - they know you don't want to traipse through Brentford for coffee and breakfast first thing, so they've got that covered with their onsite café, BOKI, which provides premium coffee, freshly squeezed juices, organic sandwiches, salads and soups, as well as breakfast pastries. Sadly I left before BOKI had opened (it was ridiculously early on a Saturday morning) so wasn't able to sample any of these, but I heard their offering was just what was needed after lots of drinks and a wonderful night's sleep at the hotel.

Urban Villas are more than a hotel. Their downstairs space will be used to host "weekly events to bring like-minded individuals together to celebrate undiscovered, unique and quality music, art, food and spirits.  Each week, we look forward to igniting Brentford with up and coming amazing new talent; from live acts and DJ slots to mini street food festivals to group fitness training workshops and guest speakers".

Room rates range from £100-175 depending on how far in advance you book. It's a great place to stay, particularly if you're visiting London from the West Country, want easy access to West London or have a flight to catch from Heathrow, and once they get their events up and running, then the perfect accommodation for those.