Zedwell has confirmed two new London hotel signings, adding a Grade II-listed former bank headquarters in the City and a Spitalfields office conversion to a UK pipeline that now exceeds 9,000 rooms.
The lifestyle brand will convert 1 Princes Street at Bank Junction into a flagship hotel, preserving its Portland stone façade, domed ceiling and grand banking hall. The second signing, at 39 Bell Lane in Spitalfields, will see a vacant office transformed into a 143-bedroom hotel alongside more than 7,500 sq ft of affordable workspace available to local businesses.
Both signings reflect Zedwell’s strategy of targeting heritage and office assets in supply-constrained urban locations, with openings also confirmed for Oxford and York.
A landmark address in the Square Mile
Located on Bank Junction, 1 Princes Street adjoins five-star hotel The Ned and sits adjacent to the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England and Mansion House. Constructed in 1929 as the headquarters of National Westminster Bank and designed by Sir Edwin Cooper, the property will be converted to accommodate the brand’s signature “cocoon” rooms, which offer advanced soundproofing, purified air systems and ambient lighting.
Parent company Criterion Capital acquired the Grade II-listed building in November 2024 for £30 million. The property spans 114,486 sq ft across nine storeys and three basement levels, with planning documents indicating a proposed conversion to 304 bedrooms.
Central to the project is the reactivation of the ground and first floors. The grand banking hall will be transformed into a publicly accessible cultural and community space, delivering exhibitions, events and educational programming in partnership with local charities and community groups. The move positions Zedwell not merely as an accommodation provider but as a community infrastructure operator — an increasingly important differentiator as hospitality brands face pressure to justify their presence in heritage neighbourhoods.
Halima Aziz, head of hotels at Zedwell, described the signing as a milestone for the brand. “1 Princes Street is one of the most prestigious buildings in the City of London,” she said. “This project reflects our vision to create hospitality destinations that are both respectful of their history and relevant for today’s guests. Importantly, it also introduces high-quality accommodation at an accessible price point for the people who work, live, study and visit the City, addressing a significant gap in the market.”
Spitalfields: workspace meets accommodation
The Spitalfields property will amount to roughly 40,000 sq ft upon completion of a vertical extension, façade enhancements and active frontages. The inclusion of affordable workspace reflects a format Zedwell has adopted across several recent signings, blending hotel accommodation with co-working facilities to broaden the brand’s appeal and address mixed-use planning requirements.
Situated between the City, Shoreditch and east London’s cultural hubs, the property benefits from proximity to Liverpool Street and landmarks including Brick Lane. The location serves a distinct guest profile from the Bank property: creative industries, tech workers and the extended-stay segment that gravitates towards the East End’s professional and cultural cluster.
A national rollout gathering pace
The two London signings arrive alongside Zedwell’s first confirmed moves outside the capital. Criterion Capital has acquired the 1907-built, Grade II-listed 48 Coney Street in York, spanning more than 25,000 sq ft, and Oxenford House at 13–15 Magdalen Street in Oxford, a city-centre freehold of 22,000 sq ft near the Ashmolean Museum and the Oxford Union.
Last year, Criterion opened what it describes as the world’s largest capsule hotel within the Grade II-listed London Pavilion at Piccadilly Circus, alongside the December 2025 opening of Zedwell Underground Park Lane. The Park Lane property comprises 133 soundproofed cocoons and represents the brand’s second fully underground hotel, following Zedwell Underground Tottenham Court Road.
The Zedwell proposition in context
Zedwell operates in a segment historically underserved by both budget and lifestyle brands: accessible price points with genuine design quality in premium urban locations. Its cocoon concept, built around purpose-built windowless rooms designed to promote rest and recovery, with body-cushioning mattresses, ambient lighting, purified air and noise-reducing walls, has proved commercially viable in London’s most competitive corridors.
Guests are offered self check-in, digital key access and 24/7 AI-powered assistance, a tech-led operational model that supports lean staffing structures. For HR and workforce leaders in hospitality, this approach raises broader questions about the future skills profile of hotel operations as technology absorbs a growing share of front-of-house functions.
Criterion Capital, controlled by developer Asif Aziz, owns a £6 billion property portfolio across London including the Trocadero leisure complex, converted into an 812-room hotel. The Zedwell brand was developed in-house and has benefited from a £25 million investment facility secured from Cynergy Bank to accelerate expansion.
With confirmed signings across Bank, Spitalfields, Oxford and York, the company has signalled its intent to establish a high-performance platform across the country’s most desirable, high-footfall urban locations, with heritage buildings and vacant office stock remaining the preferred acquisition targets.
Whether Zedwell can sustain its pipeline momentum while maintaining the design and operational standards that distinguish it from conventional budget operators will be the central question as the brand moves from London-dominant to genuinely national.
