HATC magazine stay Hotel Brooklyn: A little piece of New York.

As we head up north from London to Manchester for our Issue 6 exclusive special shoot with Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard there’s a sense of excitement within the team. For the first time in quite a while, thanks to COVID, we were able to venture a little further afield to interview and shoot the legendary forward? Wanting the shoot to go off without a hitch we were seeking a little space of heaven to call home overnight in Manchester, so to receive an invite to stay with Hotel Brooklyn for what can only be described as two nights of pure comfort and ease was a no brainer.

Bringing a little taste of New York to the UK, Hotel Brooklyn is the latest hotel to appear on the trendy Mancunium hospitality scene. Situated close to Manchester’s Gay Village the Hotel boasts a host of rooms ranging from their comfortable stylish doubles to their luxury suites, spaces to unwind and socialise, and a dining experience next to none from their eclectic range of restaurant choices.

As we arrive in the center of the city, after 6 hours on-route from London, it’s safe to say we were looking forward to a little warm hospitality, something Hotel Brooklyn exceeded on from the moment we stepped foot in the open and Brooklyn-esque lobby. Within minutes we had been assigned our rooms, showed around the downstairs of the hotel, and had help moving what can only be described as an exceptional mass of clothing for our shoot up to our rooms. I think it’s important to remember that to have a team so happy to help is something that can’t be underestimated. Following a rather long journey with a rather exhausted team, the extra manpower was something we’d been praying for. As for the Hotel, itself, it was easy to find in the Northern Quarter with easy links to transport or in our case local secure car parking. Having parked in Qpark approximately a 2-minute walk down the road, Hotel Brooklyn offers a further discount to a range of local car parks making for a rather civilised discount on parking for those staying over 24 hours. As you enter Hotel Brooklyn, there was no mistaking the hotel's theme playing ode to Brooklyn at every turn. For those who haven’t visited Brooklyn, it hosts some of New York’s finest attributes from a nod to The Brooklyn bridge, eateries, and lofts. It has to be said that they seem to have found a healthy balance between playing homage to the city that doesn’t sleep without the décor seeming overdone or cliche.

Once at our rooms we were pleasantly surprised at the size of each. Both rooms oozed not only space but a level of elegance in the finish. Each room had been thought through down to the little details with Nespresso Machines, 6ft beds, LCD flat-screen TVs, and even a personalised newspaper in the typical 1990's New Yorker old-fashioned print. Incorporated in each room's large layout are modern bathrooms boasting luxury touches everywhere you look from walk-in wide plan showers with attached handheld shower assets, body products, and storage. And if that’s not enough depending on your selection of room the hotel gives you some of the best up-close views over central Manchester.

Once we’d prepped for the next day’s shoot and settled in for the night, there was nothing else on our minds other than dinner. For our first night with Hotel Brooklyn and after a very long day commuting we decided to stay in and eat in-house. It’s fair to say we had fairly good expectations of the hotel restaurant from hearing whispering compliments of others staying, alongside the fact that the restaurant was extremely busy, but I don’t think we had fully prepared ourselves for the quality that Hotel Brooklyn delivered. It’s safe to say the restaurant delivered an extremely high quality of a variety of courses from an in-depth and extensive menu, including both vegetarian and vegan-friendly choices that were just as well thought through as those of the meat options. Accompanied with a glass of their finest Sauvignon Blanc we felt completely at ease and well looked after from the warm hospitality we received. After a long day, we felt we’d arrived.

As for sleep, the rooms felt well equipped with large beds that found the balance between firm and comfortable, in rooms that were easy to set temperature-wise. Although the restaurant and lobby had a certain buzz to them the rest of the hotel was quiet, with the bustling city outside almost muted for the remainder of the night. As we awoke and gathered ourselves ready for the magazine shoot day we headed down to breakfast, with high expectations following the previous night’s culinary options. Breakfast was well set up, to say the least with a whole host of options including both continental and cooked breakfast. With flexible timings, we were able to cater well to our day even if rather full.

For us, Hotel Brooklyn was well set not just in location but in extra amenities. If there was something unavailable (trust me when I tell you that is unlikely) their 24-hour team has no problem in taking their hand to the task. The team was so incredible that when a team member fell ill they were the first to help manage the situation, making us comfortable and safe. They set themselves the challenge to ease inconvenience at every turn, something not always the case in hotels. So as we left Hotel Brooklyn we did feel like we were leaving a little bit of home, a little bit of home that we are sure to return to in the future.

Book your little piece of New York now!