Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars, City of London

The building has existed in various forms since the sixteenth century. It sits on land that was once part of Bridewell Palace — a short-lived royal residence built for Henry VIII around 1515, subsequently donated to the City of London as a hospital and workhouse, later a prison, and in its most recent incarnation before the current hotel, a Victorian office block that operated as a Crowne Plaza from 2000 until Hyatt acquired and rebranded it in June 2023. The Grade II listing means the exterior has been preserved: a handsome stone and brick facade on New Bridge Street, with the rear entrance directly facing Blackfriars station. Inside, the renovation has replaced the Crowne Plaza product with something considerably more considered — refreshed restaurants and bar, a proper Regency Club lounge, refurbished rooms with marble bathrooms — while retaining the building’s essentially business-hotel bones. That tension between the hotel’s ambition and its origins runs through the guest experience. Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars is a capable business hotel in an exceptional location, operating at a price point where expectations of luxury are reasonable. It delivers on most of them. A handful it does not.

The case for staying here is location first, location second, and Regency Club access a meaningful third. Blackfriars station — with Circle, District and Thameslink services — is directly across the road from the hotel’s rear entrance. St Paul’s Cathedral is a four-minute walk. The South Bank, Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe are accessible on foot across Blackfriars Bridge. Borough Market, Covent Garden and the West End are all under twenty minutes on foot or one tube stop. For travellers using London as a base for both leisure and business, or for those arriving directly from Gatwick via Thameslink, the positioning is close to ideal. The Regency Club lounge — which requires a Club room booking or Globalist status — adds a full breakfast buffet and a daily evening cocktail hour that between them provide real monetary value. At Category 6 redemption rates the combination represents a straightforward points case, particularly for multi-night stays.

The dining programme is more limited than it once was. Chinese Cricket Club, the long-standing Cantonese flagship that previously anchored the hotel’s F&B offering, closed permanently in February 2026, removing what was widely regarded as the strongest in-house restaurant. What remains is NYnLON, a New York-style bistro occupying a vibrant ground-floor space, and Leaf & Cane, a sports and entertainment bar with an outdoor terrace and karaoke. NYnLON now carries the weight of the hotel’s all-day dining programme, including the Sunday brunch with live jazz, oysters and an unlimited buffet. The caveat, consistent across reviews, is that weekend coverage can be inconsistent: outside peak hours, outlets are sometimes closed or operating on reduced menus. Guests planning late dinners on a Friday or Saturday should confirm current opening hours before counting on a specific venue. Verify current dining arrangements at the hotel’s dining page before travel — the corporate site has been slow to reflect the closure.

Hotel lobby

King Bed Deluxe room

Location

Blackfriars station is immediately outside the hotel’s rear entrance on Bride Lane — one of the most convenient station relationships of any central London hotel. The station serves Circle and District line Underground services plus Thameslink overground trains, which run direct to Gatwick Airport in approximately 40 minutes without requiring a change. That combination — Zone 1 tube access and a direct rail link to a major London airport — is a meaningful practical advantage, and it is cited in reviews more consistently than almost any other feature. Guests arriving from Gatwick can be at the hotel within the hour from touchdown, and departures work with equal simplicity.

The immediate neighbourhood is the City of London: financial district, dense with office towers and Victorian lanes, quiet at weekends. St Paul’s Cathedral is a four-minute walk north. Blackfriars Bridge and the South Bank are a two-minute walk south. From there: Tate Modern in eight minutes, Shakespeare’s Globe in ten, Borough Market in twelve. Covent Garden is twenty minutes on foot or one tube stop (Holborn, via the Central line from St Paul’s). The West End theatre district is similarly accessible. For first-time visitors to London, the orientation from here is straightforward — the river is a constant reference point and the major attractions are spread neatly on either bank. For business travellers working in the Square Mile, the location puts most City offices within a ten-minute walk. Canary Wharf is accessible via the Jubilee line with one change at Canary Wharf, or direct on the Elizabeth line from City Thameslink.

Building and Rooms

The building’s history sits lightly on the current hotel. The Grade II listed facade — Victorian stone and brick — is well maintained, and the reception area retains a certain solidity that the newer luxury conversions in the West End do not always match. The interior was comprehensively refurbished ahead of the 2023 Hyatt rebrand: new carpets, new furniture, new bathrooms. The result is clean, contemporary and unremarkable in the best possible sense — nothing dates badly or distracts. The lobby area has energy; the remaining dining spaces are well designed; the corridors feel properly maintained. The overall impression is a hotel that takes its physical condition seriously, which is not always the case with conversions of this age and size.

Standard rooms run 27–32 square metres. That is a reasonable size by London standards — not large, but not cramped, and meaningfully larger than the standard rooms at Great Scotland Yard a mile west. The layout is efficient: a flexible work area (rather than a traditional fixed desk), a king bed or twin configuration, a 65-inch UHD television, a minibar and in-room safe, and a walk-in rain shower over a marble-finished bathroom. Several reviews specifically praise the showers and the mattress quality. The 65-inch screen size, generous in terms of room size, is noted positively. Regency Club rooms occupy the same footprint but include lounge access. Suites run 41–44 sqm — standard suites with high-street corner views, premium suites on the sixth and seventh floors with City views. Neither is large by suite standards, but the additional space and lounge access make them a meaningful step up from the standard room tier.

Dining

The closure of Chinese Cricket Club in February 2026 removed the hotel’s headline restaurant and with it a meaningful piece of the Blackfriars proposition. The Cantonese venue had held two AA Rosettes prior to closing and was consistently singled out in reviews as the strongest in-house offering. Its disappearance means NYnLON now carries the all-day dining load on its own, and the Regency Club lounge has taken on a larger share of the breakfast service for Globalists and Club room guests. At time of writing, the Hyatt corporate site still lists Chinese Cricket Club; third-party aggregators including Expedia and Hotels.com have updated to reflect two restaurants. Guests should confirm current arrangements with the hotel directly before booking if in-house dining is a priority.

NYnLON occupies a ground-floor space with its own entrance energy: a New York-style bistro with American wines, salt beef bagels, lobster rolls, steaks and seasonal salads. The design is deliberately vibrant — think East Coast diner crossed with London brasserie — and the venue generates its own atmosphere independent of the hotel. The Sunday brunch is the standout: an unlimited buffet with live jazz, oysters and New York-style desserts. Staff at NYnLON are singled out by name across multiple reviews as among the most attentive in the hotel. With Chinese Cricket Club closed, NYnLON also now handles the à la carte breakfast service for guests not using the Regency Club.

Leaf & Cane is the entertainment bar: sports screens, karaoke, cocktails, a Latin-influenced design and an outdoor terrace. It occupies a distinct niche that NYnLON does not — more informal, more socially oriented — and it functions as a late-night option when the restaurant has closed. The outdoor terrace is a genuine asset in warmer months. Reduced hours are more likely on quieter weekends; check directly before relying on it for a late Friday or Saturday session.

World of Hyatt — Earning on the Stay

Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars is a Category 6 World of Hyatt property, having moved up from Category 5 in 2025. Under the current award chart, standard room redemptions cost 21,000 points off-peak, 25,000 standard and 29,000 peak. Hyatt has announced an overhaul of the award chart taking effect in May 2026, replacing the current three-tier structure with a five-tier system at higher rates across the board. The figures above reflect the current chart — check the World of Hyatt website before booking. Standard free night certificates (valid up to Category 4) cannot be used here. The Globalist annual free night certificate covers up to Category 7 and can be applied for a complimentary night at this property.

Cash rates for a standard room typically start around £280–£340 per night in lower-demand periods and rise substantially for peak dates and major City events. The Hyatt Privé programme (available through certain travel advisers) adds confirmed room upgrades, daily breakfast for two and a hotel credit on cash bookings.

Elite Benefits — What Globalist Gets Here

Practical Notes

Dining scope has narrowed: With Chinese Cricket Club closed since February 2026, the hotel’s in-house options are now NYnLON and Leaf & Cane. Guests who previously chose Blackfriars partly for its Cantonese offering will need to look elsewhere — Kym’s in Bloomberg Arcade and Hakkasan Mayfair are both reachable within fifteen minutes. The Regency Club lounge now carries more of the daily food and drink workload for elite guests than it did when the hotel had three distinct venues.

Weekend dining coverage: Some outlets operate on reduced hours or are closed on weekends, and the Chinese Cricket Club closure has made this more noticeable. This is the most consistent complaint in the review archive, and it reflects a hotel whose primary market is weekday business guests. Check current opening hours for NYnLON and Leaf & Cane before relying on them for Friday and Saturday evening dining. The Sunday jazz brunch at NYnLON is the exception — it is the hotel’s strongest weekend F&B offering and books out.

Five-star claims: The hotel is listed and markets itself as five-star. Several reviews take issue with this, describing the experience as upper-four-star. The distinction matters for expectation-setting: guests arriving expecting a Park Hyatt or Andaz level of personalisation and room finish will find Blackfriars falls short. Guests arriving expecting a well-run, recently refurbished Hyatt Regency with an excellent location and good lounge access will find it meets expectations on those terms.

Room noise: Rooms on the High Street side face New Bridge Street, which carries traffic noise. Rooms on the alley side are consistently described in reviews as significantly quieter. Worth requesting at booking.

Damage deposit: A £50 credit card deposit is taken at check-in and returned within seven days of checkout. Not mentioned in most booking confirmations and sometimes catches guests off-guard — factor it in.

Airport access: The Thameslink direct service from Blackfriars to Gatwick is the easiest airport connection of any Zone 1 London hotel. For Heathrow, the standard route is District line to Earls Court, then Piccadilly line to the terminal (approximately 55 minutes total). The Elizabeth line is also accessible from City Thameslink (one stop to Farringdon or direct services via Thameslink) and is faster for Terminals 2–5.