&Soul Avis 8

I visited Andsoul South Hall yesterday to meet a friend, and it was such a great experience. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, making it the perfect spot to catch up and relax. The space felt comfortable without being too crowded, and everything was nicely set up.

The staff were friendly and attentive, which really added to the overall vibe. We didn’t feel rushed at all and were able to enjoy our time properly. It’s definitely a place I’d come back to again, whether for another casual meet-up or just to unwind.

Overall, Andsoul South Hall left a really positive impression on me. Highly recommend it if you’re looking for a chill and pleasant place to spend time with friends.

Moved in for a month as a base to suss out London, and while initially I wasn’t sure if &Soul was for me, I’ve now signed up till the end of the year & can’t see myself leaving! It has absolutely everything I need under one roof. Sauna, gym, co-working, but mostly a great community. After a few weeks here I’d made many friends for life. The management are making regular improvements to the facilities & how the building is run, and take on board feedback from residents. Highly recommend

I am extremely disappointed with how this place was advertised compared to the reality of living here.
Firstly, the general manager, behaves in a highly unprofessional manner. She is in a relationship with a resident, which raises serious concerns about boundaries and fairness. As a result, both her partner and her own children are given privileges that other residents do not have. Her children are allowed to run around the building unsupervised and have been given access to restricted areas doors that are supposed to remain locked. This is not only unfair but also a serious safety concern, especially when other visiting children are not allowed the same access.
There are also serious concerns regarding how vulnerable residents are treated. I have spoken to a resident with mobility issues who has effectively been pushed out of the community, and another disabled resident has already been removed. It appears management is trying to avoid responsibility rather than properly support those who need it.
The building itself has multiple ongoing issues. The ventilation system does not work properly, there are no windows, and the air quality makes it difficult to breathe. The lifts frequently break down, and residents have been getting stuck in them. Despite repeated assurances that they’ve been fixed, the problems continue.
Management has recently started conducting fire door checks, but the way this is being handled is intrusive and often rude, rather than professional or reassuring.
There are also basic maintenance issues—for example, the main gate was broken, forcing residents to take inconvenient alternative routes.
Finally, I would strongly question the authenticity of the positive reviews. Many seem to come from staff members or individuals receiving discounted stays through work exchange programs, which creates a clear bias. I would not trust the 5-star ratings.
Overall, this place does not meet the standards it promotes, and my experience has been very disappointing.

Southall &Soul has been a transformative living experience so far. We are three weeks into our stay and we are loving it, have made so many connections and new friends. The staff and supportive, present and kind. The view is great from the 8th floor and the community food is a special treat.

I would definitely recommend.

I had a disappointing and stressful experience at Southall &Soul which is a shame as I loved the concept of the place but the reality of some basic issues really overshadowed the positives.

On the plus side, the community is friendly, the facilities all under one roof is great (eg the coworking space and spacious and comfy common areas) The sauna and cold plunge + events such as the free dinners, pilates and yoga etc were good.

However, the basic broken amenities made it a generally negative experience at the end of the day, particularly the dismissive and gaslight-y way it was handled by management

My first room’s air con and vents did not work in 35+ degrees in summer in a small space.Eventually someone checked and confirmed that wasn’t working but there was nothing they could do about it at night or until 8.30am. I asked for other solutions eg. changing rooms for the night, getting a fan but was told no. The windows don’t open so I couldn’t get fresh air either. I could not breathe properly in that room, had a headache and felt dizzy and like I was going to pass out even after trying to do things like have a cold shower, draping a cold wet towel over myself, opening the door (a safety issue too tbh) and drinking water. I honestly thought I was going to pass out if I stayed in there. So I hung out in the common rooms until 5.30am.

Then when I spoke to the day team (while incredibly sleep deprived), they told me I couldn’t move rooms until Mon because I had a fridge (it was Friday) and I almost cried because I was so tired and sick and being told I had no where to sleep for several days. I didnt even have a fridge in my room then so that made no sense.

There was also many broken basic amenities eg ovens, malfunctioning lift ( I saw multiple people get stuck), air con and vents etc

I thought the air con issue was a one-off (it wasnt) and I did enjoy the other stuff,so i extended my stay and gave an ok review via Airbnb. I massively regret this. In my 2nd room, the electricity kept tripping randomly after using the outlets for 20ish minutes. In the various times I flagged this and asked for an electrician to come look at it, i was told “it’s fine” (it wasn’t), “you have too many things plugged in” (I only had my phone charger and laptop charger plugged in, never at the same time and they worked everywhere else), “stop using international phone chargers” (my phone charger was a UK one). I was continually brushed off when asking for an electrician update. I also found out the room next to me also previously had a similar issue, but I was told “It’s not helpful to speculate.” After 1 week I was moved rooms and an electrician came but it took me flagging the issue via text, emails and in person 12+ times which was so unnecessarily stressful and time-consuming. I wanted to leave but was told “contracts are binding and you never went without electricity for an extended time.”

The final room I was moved into was dirty ( black marks all over the shower walls + black smudges, a hole in the wall, dust build up on the air con). Again, the air con and ventilation units kept conking out and making me ill. I was treated more like I was annoyance for raising it than with actual genuine concern that their rooms were making me sick.

Other minor issues left a bad taste Eg.At check in, the person at the front desk greeted me with “No one told me you were coming” and walked off, which didn’t feel super welcoming. Also, I found this place via Airbnb. The contract I was asked to sign had a different price on it than what I had paid via Airbnb so I questioned it as I am uncomfortable signing a contract that clearly doesnt match. I was told there was a gap due to me paying in AUD and “it’s the exchange rate” which was incorrect. After more pressing, I found out it’s due to fees, but it made me uncomfortable to be misled when I asked about a contract discrepancy

One day I also turned on the shower tap in my room, only to see brown murky water come out.
Shuttle buses were tricky to book and apparently for commuters only (I was discouraged from using it on my last day because I had 1 x suitcase that I wanted to bring)

Don't expect any help or normal resolutions if/when you have issues -- they made it as difficult as possible to leave despite me not being able to a) breathe b) sleep or c) use electricity in multiple rooms. Guest health and safety is irrelevant to this company, they only care about revenue and profit. They pretend the issues have gotten better via ChatGPT responses but thats not true.

TLDR version: Community living is a great idea and I’d consider other places but there is no way I would return to this one specifically because it made me sick.
IT IS THE WORST ACCOMMODATION EXPERIENCE IVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE.

DO NOT STAY HERE.

This is a pretty unique and special place.

There's obviously been teething problems, as highlighted by the other reviews, but it is a very ambitious venture and such things always come with challenges and difficulties.

For me, I spent just over a week here, and had a pretty life changingly awesome time. There are some truly wonderful human beings involved in the development of this place as well as the people that are part of the community who obviously value what is being created here.

In the space of 10 days I met around 20 or so new human beings and can confidently say I've made some friends for life. There are many contributing factors to this, but primarily I think it is a consequence of the strength of intention to create something meaningful and special here which has obviously taken a lot of work.

There's a yoga studio, saunas, terrace, cafe and communal area available to everyone staying there throughout most of the 24 hour period and every person I encountered was keen to be helpful if I needed to figure out or understand something.

I'm generally a pretty confident person, and so I don't mind learning as I go but there were obvious efforts made by people here to make me feel welcome, even though I had some anxieties around having a short stay compared to the people that actually live here.

Special shout out to Nicola for sitting with me and welcoming me into the community, explaining stuff to me and learning more about me.

Shout out to Cody for all the efforts on making the outside/garden space as lively as possible and for sharing that knowledge.

Shout out to Leyth for introducing me to the whole thing, introducing me to other people and taking me out to the local area to see what's going on.

And shout out to Jordi for tireless work on developing and managing such a unique creation in an unorthodox setting.

It ain't easy to develop a meaningful community in a concrete jungle, let alone a high rise hotel like building, but these guys are taking on that challenge and in my eyes are creating something really special here.

Granted, it's not for everyone, but it is obviously resonating with the people staying here and I'm personally looking forward to visiting/staying again in due course.

I'm based in Bristol but am in London a few times every few months and it really worked for me being here.

Oh yeah and I landed with a free delicious meal on the Wednesday night with a bunch of really friendly humans, didn't expect that, lovely touch.

This place is like a powered generator of meaningful relationships and self - development, it's charged, and if that's what you need right now then I would go and check it out for yourself.

And even if it's just for a room with access to all the facilities the pricing isn't bad either.

Go and see, get a tour, ask your own questions, you'll be glad you did.

Terrible. Staff clearly have a lack of experience troubleshooting and poor initiative to think outside the box. Lovely staff but unfortunately not a lot of common sense.

Their ventilation system is a serious Health & Safety concern particularly when you don't have windows that can be opened. I checked in on 30 January to 1 March. Issues started early morning 31 January. It should be mandatory for an organisation like this to ensure that if you do not have windows in your building, then you need to make certain that you have a fully functional ventilation system that does not run hot constantly. The maintenance guy did an inspection of my room to check the temperature and the reading was at 26 degrees which is very unsafe, particularly when there are no windows that can be opened to allow for adequate air flow. There was also a large leak coming from the window area when it was raining heavily which saturated the carpet on one side of the room.This is level 6. I have video footage because the entire situation is a joke. As a result of their failure to provide a safe environment, I had to seek urgent medical care at the hospital as I was struggling to breathe. And while I am an asthmatic, I travel often and stay at various hotels regularly, and I have never experienced any issues of this kind.

I was sick for over 3 weeks and I am still trying to recover from my experience at this accommodation. What really astounds me is that it took them over two weeks to move me to another room and even then, it was at my request. I would think it was a fairly obvious solution to offer a different space when the issues first started and they couldn't figure out what was going on, however, like I mentioned earlier, clearly lacking common sense across the board. Unfortunately, the new room turned out to be another nightmare where I went from extremely hot to extremely cold. Additionally, one night I heard a commotion in the hallway and I ran out to check what was going on because there was a girl screaming hysterically. Turns out, she was having some kind of anxiety attack from the lack of airflow in her room and the poor staff that was on that night looked traumatised. He was one of the only ones who was compassionate. I don't know what her situation was and whether she over reacted, but clearly there are ventilation issues with this accommodation. I had seen another person mentioning the same thing on trustpilot which is why I believe there is a serious issue that really needs to be addressed and dealt with properly. There were residence on site that I met who also complained about the air con which they found too hot but did not want to say anything out of fear because they were long term tenants or something to that affect and did not want any trouble with their contracts.

Furthermore, on my last day at the residence, I did not trust them to be honest with the room inspection and the security guy that accompanied me to the room, ended up harassing, threatening and belittling me throughout that whole process. It was extremely distressing and I am still considering my options regarding this matter as that kind of behaviour is utterly unacceptable.

It is baffling the amount of people that I encountered who did not have adequate training to manage these kinds of issues, but also, the lack of care from their sales team and higher management who did not offer any kind of workable solution. I have countless emails and text messages asking for help with various issues and mainly the heating which was affecting my ability to breathe properly. This company do not act in good faith and are not interested in making restitution for the shocking experience that I had.

I would absolutely advise against staying here and will be letting others know the kind of establishment this is. Disgusting.

This place photographs well and the website is slick, but the reality is very different. Rooms are tiny, ventilation is poor, and maintenance is patchy. The kitchen is almost unusable: filthy fridges, one working standard oven for a building of roughly 300 guests, and limited equipment make proper cooking nearly impossible. The 3 lifts are very slow, actually only 1 worked during my stay with the occasional second one working and then breaking down. Breakfast isn’t worth mentioning—it’s served late (after 8 a.m.) and consists mainly of toast.

The “community” vibe is heavily marketed but feels forced and awkward. Events are given cringeworthy names like Warrior Awakening or Psychedelic Speed-Dating and much of the programming leans toward pseudo-wellness rather than practical social activities like a run club or movie nights. If you’re not into that kind of spiritual or psychedelic-style scene, the energy can feel exclusionary and uncomfortable.

Staff at reception are friendly, but even they seem frustrated with the poor organisation and top-down corporate management. It feels as though most of the budget went into branding and marketing rather than making the building functional or pleasant to live in.

Most worrying is the security deposit. Several residents, including myself, have experienced long delays—often around two months—before receiving refunds. Deposits are not protected by any government scheme, and the company openly keeps any interest earned while holding your money. You may have to threaten legal action to get it back, and because you are a licensee rather than a tenant, the usual tenancy protections do not apply.

If you’re looking for a short-term stay, enjoy a raw diet, and want to immerse yourself in a heavily branded “healing” atmosphere, it might suit you. For anyone else, it’s a corporate façade with weak facilities trying to monetise on this weird healing trend that actually welcomes a lot of vulnerable people seeking connection. Whilst you may find that it's not thanks to &soul simply to the message that they are selling but should just be trying to create a great place to live by the general basic maintenance of the building and making events and facilities approachable and at times where everyone can join and feel welcome.

Also don't forget, don't be in a rush to get your security deposit back, look at the 1 star reviews, the 5 star ones and comments online appear to often have the names of people working there.