5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Dictionary Hostel

9 Dec , 2015 The Dictionary Hostel

Ever gone to a hostel and wondered what was behind the scenes? How old is the building? Did it always look like this? What left behind items do are found on a daily basis? Well, wonder no more, as we bring you 5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Dictionary Hostel!

 

1. Our history

Long before our lovely building became The Dictionary Hostel, it was home to a veneer factory in the Victorian era, as Shoreditch was like THE coolest place to manufacture furniture in the 1800s. After that it was boring office space for ages, until a small (and very sweaty) nightclub called Herbal came along in 2000 and transformed the East London drum and bass scene, hosting the likes of Goldie, Grooverider and the Metalheadz crew. Apparently, it was pretty notorious and that infamy led to its eventual closure in 2009… And so after that, we got working on the building and now the hostel is like a second home, not only for us but also for our travelling guests from around the world.

 

2. Weird things can get left behind…

In what is now known as ‘the great basement clear out’, we dug out all the things that had been abandoned by our guests over the years. Stuff they’d bought with them or bought whilst they were in London or just… found lying around, we guess? We always try and locate the owner of every item to check if it’s been lost, but mostly this was stuff that had been picked up and then abandoned when they realised their backpacks or suitcases were too full. SO, here are some of the weird and wonderful items we found on our clear out. We found a masseur’s folding massage table, some hula hoops, a children’s Hello Kitty bike, a plastic lobster and, our favourite, a bag of glow-in-the-dark condoms… Yep.

 

3. We really have some of the most amazing guests

We love meeting our guests day in and day out and the best part is you just never know who’s going to walk through the door! We’ve hosted football teams, hen and stag do’s, University Amnesty International groups and, most memorably, the teenagers from the Recycled Instruments Orchestra of Cateura, an orchestra of young people from a deprived area in Paraguay, who found themselves by learning instruments and then building their own out of recycled materials. These guys were an absolute joy to have around and you can learn all about them in the video below!

 

4. We do tend to get noticed

We try to make your experience the best it can be when you come to stay with us at The Dictionary Hostel. And it’s that attentiveness that seems to land us with some really humbling reviews. We’ve been featured in The Huffington Post, EasyJet Magazine, The Telegraph, Conde Nast Traveler, TimeOut and The Sunday Times for being one of the most trendy and best value hostels in London. Our guests also show us the love time and time again, like the wonderful video from The Hostel Hopper below.

 

5. The staff are always ready for an emergency!

This year, we took all of our staff to get trained in administering first aid, so you guys are always in safe hands! The day itself was really interesting and we got to practice resuscitation on a dummy who needing rescuing, probably because the fetching baby blue and pink tracksuit jacket he was wearing was just too much of a killer look (seriously, where can we get one of those? Brick Lane probably has some…)

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