London, England
Zedwell Spitalfields
Criterion Capital is stacking a vertical extension onto a vacant Bell Lane office block to give Zedwell's windowless capsule format its first Spitalfields address, wedged between the market and Liverpool Street.
Announced · TBC
Criterion Capital has secured planning approval to convert a vacant Bell Lane office block in Spitalfields into a 143-room Zedwell capsule hotel, adding a vertical extension and 7,500 sq ft of affordable workspace. It's the brand's third London-area conversion project disclosed in 2026, alongside signings in York and Oxford, but no opening date has been set.
The essentials
- Group
- Zedwell Hotels (Criterion Capital)
- Opening
- TBC
- Rooms & suites
- 143 cocoon-style capsule rooms, not conventional hotel rooms
- Segment
- Budget (windowless capsule format)
- Designer
- NC
- Entry rate
- NC
The place
39 Bell Lane sits on a corner site at the junction of Bell Lane and Artillery Lane in Spitalfields, east London, a few minutes' walk from Old Spitalfields Market and Liverpool Street station — one of the capital's busiest transport hubs — and close to Brick Lane and the Shoreditch nightlife strip. The site straddles the edge of the City and East London's cultural core, giving a budget capsule format an unusually central footprint for the price point.
The concept
Criterion Capital, the property group controlled by Asif Aziz, has planning approval to convert a vacant six-storey, 24,689 sq ft office building at 39 Bell Lane into a 143-room Zedwell hotel. The scheme adds a vertical extension and a facade redesign, taking the building to roughly 40,000 sq ft, and includes more than 7,500 sq ft of affordable workspace for local businesses and creative industries across the ground and first floors. The base permission was granted in March 2026, with a minor amendment application following the same month. Zedwell's format — already running at a roughly 1,000-pod site in Piccadilly Circus, and in the pipeline for York and Oxford — is built around small, soundproofed, windowless capsule 'cocoons' with body-cushioning mattresses, ambient lighting and purified-air systems, alongside shared bathrooms and a largely automated guest journey (self check-in, digital keys, AI-assisted messaging) rather than staffed conventional rooms. Spitalfields is one of several London flagships in Criterion's roughly 9,000-room UK pipeline target for 2028, alongside a separate scheme at 1 Princes Street, Bank Junction.
Dining & wellness
Nothing has been announced for food and beverage at this property. The scheme's disclosed floor space is allocated to guest cocoons and affordable workspace; no restaurant, bar or café has been confirmed.
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