Stepney Green’s Fantasy Land

There may be suspicions I am on David Carter’s payroll but I merely crave the unusual, and a night at 40 WINKS  is certainly that.

We arrived at the Mile End town house/tiniest hotel in the world and I – a veteran of protocol after two previous visits – swapped my shoes for slippers in record time.

Down my friend and I went to the kitchen where the genial host offered us a glass of red and shot the breeze about his imminent couture party. A little later, Thomas, a Parisian here on business, returned from an Indian meal in the area to hand his key back to David. He didn’t stay long as an early morning beckoned yet he was friendly and relaxed – shocking qualities in this fair city.

My friend and I were staying in the double room, an open white space with three sash windows looking out onto Mile End High Street. All seemed very calm and normal until we started to look at the room’s accessories: an orange lace lampshade shaped like a corset, a sailor’s hat resting on a mannequin’s head, a slightly punch-drunk doll sitting on a pile of suitcases with a Queen Mary lifebelt leaning casually against them.

There is something utterly fantastical about being at 40 WINKS, whose air of sophistication makes you feel like a kid at an adult’s dinner party or an extra on a glamorous movie set – possibly The Great Gatsby. Inspired by the fresh setting to the telling of fresh secrets, my friend and I spent the evening giggling, pausing only to pose with the sailor’s hat.

The morning after the girlie night before, I had the queenliest bathing experience of my 25 years. The bathroom, a favourite amongst da laydeez, has walls of mottled gold with beads and a black  feather boa dangling from candle-style lamps. A long slim bath with a bronze lion head in place of taps sits in the middle of the room and, so you don’t spend ages prodding the lion’s face like yours truly, let it be known that the water is controlled by red and yellow levers found inside the cupboard.

Then it was downstairs to where the table was laid for a breakfast of toast and cereal and then off, before the check-out time of 11 am, into the dusty, cluttered London normal.

Sophie stayed at:

40 WINKS
109 Mile End Road
Stepney Green
E1 4UJ

Single room costs £70 per night, double £85.

Tel: 020 7790 0259

www.40winks.org