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Sitting in the heart of the city and surrounded by museums and bars, the Hard Rock Hotel Madrid manages to be entertaining enough on its own

Music is the lifeblood of the soul, I firmly believe everyone needs to listen to music to stay alive. But there’s people who love music (human beings, birds) and there’s people who love music (Radiohead fans). I always thought the Hard Rock Hotel catered exclusively to the latter group, until I made a trip to their Madrid location in July.

In fact, the Hard Rock Hotel is a haven for anyone who has been to a live gig all the way up to those people who camp outside Wembley Stadium, just so they can feel what it’s like to be squished against a barrier for hours with the force of a thousand fans.

Located in Madrid’s Atocha neighbourhood and a few minutes walk from the station that shares its name, it’s also just a 20 minute drive from the airport. This makes it an absolute sweet spot for exploring the city – that’s as soon as you’re done with the inside.

Room

Madrid is hot, but Madrid in July may as well be located on the surface of an exploding star. However, the air conditioning in this hotel is next level – and it’s the first thing I noticed as I walked in to their lobby. That was seconds before my eyes clocked the museum of artefacts in the lobby.

A gorgeous Menina sculpture statue covered in song lyrics from Spanish popstar Rosalia sits on one side of the entrance, with a giant bull greeting on the other. The lobby is a cornucopia of musical artefacts alongside the art, with guitars and pics from famous rockstars and little explainers for those less in the know.

It’s difficult to have so much stuff everywhere and not feel too kitsch, but while it certainly straddles that line, it feels more exciting than it does over-the-top. A wonderful touch I enjoyed was that all the staff have their favourite artist on their name tags. While checking in, I had a lovely chat with a guy about the new Madonna album – it was Pride season, after all, and Confessions II is this summer’s gay album.

One thing that struck me was how friendly and helpful all the staff were here. This is my favourite thing about the hotel: I never felt like a burden, even as I asked questions about how to get somewhere or if I needed toothpaste brought up to the room.

I stayed in a double-bed room overlooking the lobby. The beds are dreamy – I was clocking in 30,000+ Garmin steps (if you know, you know) and resting my head on a cloud and my body on another, bigger cloud, really helped me keep the party going. Despite music pumping from individual rooms and a Pride party on the Saturday afternoon, I could at most feel a murmur and a vibration.

The rooms aren’t huge, which while not unfamiliar to a city centre hotel, may be an issue for those bringing suitcases of clothes. I brought a backpack and fairly easily expanded into the clothes storage space.

However, this was mitigated by some lovely touches – the soundbar makes getting ready an absolute delight and if you don’t have any playlists, they provide you with one. The rain shower was, also, desperately needed after walking about in 40 degree heat. The cherry on top is the ring light mirror too – you best believe I did a photoshoot.

Amenities

The hotel boasts a restaurant and bar in the lobby area, as well as a rooftop bar and a pool with access to a bar and food. I dined at the Sessions restaurant on one Friday night.

Its definite plus point is a huge menu, meaning even the most fussy eaters will have something to eat, from patatas bravas to croquettes to onion rings and ribs. I would say this is fairly standard fare – if you’ve eaten in a Hard Rock Cafe, you’ve eaten the food here. But good for those in a pinch.

However, I cannot recommend enough going to the rooftop bar at sunset. The city sets alight with golden hour glow – sipping on a gorgeous cocktail as Madrid reveals its beauty to me is something I will never forget.

The pool, meanwhile, is good for jumping in to cool down, but is not the biggest I’ve ever seen. The real stars of the pool area are the bookable cabanas, making it ideal for decompressing, reading a book and hoping the hangover doesn’t kill you off.

Location

The location is an absolute highlight, with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza all within walking distance.

It’s also on the edge of the huge El Retiro Park, with so much inside (including a botanical garden) that it would take several days to explore. On the edges of this I found a smaller, free version of the Reina Sofia too, proving art is foundational to a Madrid experience.

Sol station is a 20 minute walk from the hotel – I arrived during Pride, so while I didn’t get to experience the area’s restaurants, this was the epicentre of the entertainment, with live singers on a huge stage and hundreds of people dancing.

And no trip to Spain is complete without some churros – a 29 minute walk from the hotel is the famous Chocolatería San Ginés, which has existed since 1894. Here you can get affordable churros in chocolate so good I’m surprised Arthur Slugworth didn’t go in to steal the recipe. It’s so good in fact Madrid’s police officers are often spotted in there.

Is it worth the trip?

It’s hard not to recommend the Hard Rock Hotel. Not only is the location one of the best in the city, the hotel is just so exciting to stay in. Couple that with comfy beds you can sink into, the minor issues were outweighed by the force of its riff. If you like fun, you’ll like the Hard Rock Hotel.

Emmerdale fans were left divided when the identity of the arsonist was finally revealed on the latest episode of the long-running ITV soap, especially as a potential production blunder confirmed it weeks ago

Emmerdale fans were left divided when the identity of the arsonist was finally revealed on the latest episode of the long-running ITV soap. For weeks now, viewers of the Yorkshire-based serial have been left guessing after a mysterious hooded figure was seen pouring petrol on Robert Sugden’s farm and setting it alight, with names such as Kammy Hadiq and Graham Foster thrown around as potential suspects.

It was all revealed in the final Emmerdale of the week, but even then, viewers had to wait until just before the credits rolled. Joe Tate (Ned Porteous), Robert, and Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) had spent the day trying to figure out who was the culprit, along with Graham.

At the end of the day, Aaron explained to Robert: “Graham reckons he nearly caught someone today – the arsonist. Well, not nearly caught them, actually. He’s been keeping an eye on the place since Joe thought it was me and Robert starting the fires. Just someone in a dark hoodie, which is pretty much everyone we know.”

As he was talking, the final scene of the episode saw teenager Kyle Winchester (Huey Quinn) walking up to the scene of the crime with a can of petrol and starting the fire.

Fans were quick to react to the revelation, with one writing: “Kyle Dingle needs some serious psychological help first murder then arsonist, what’s next serial killer?!” and another said: “Surely Kyle needs some punishment now. Him offending and the Dingles covering for him is not going to end well.”

Taking to X, another said: “OMG IT WAS KYLE ALL ALONG,” and another wrote: “Omg it’s Kyle,” as they emblazoned their comment with a shocked-face emoji. However, others claimed that the twist was “predictable”, especially given a potential mishap that happened in production.

As with fellow ITV soap Coronation Street, the credits roll with the cast listed in order of appearance and Kyle Winchester was the character noted at the top, and therefore suggested to be the person in the opening scene way back when the mystery was first teased. This opening scene was the hooded fire starter, therefore suggesting even then that it was Kyle.

One said: “#Emmerdale it was so obvious it was Kyle [eye roll emoji] It was as obvious as living in No1 Obvious St, Obvious Cresent in Obvious Town in the country of Fucking Obvious OB3 1OS,” whilst another said: “Oh really… would never have guessed him to be the fire starter.”

A third wrote: “So not only is Kyle a killer for murdering Al – he’s now an arsonist, As much as I’m loving another big story for Kyle and Huey Quinn is brilliant – this almost felt too predictable especially with the early spoiler last week in the end credits. #Emmerdale”

A fourth said: “I really wasn’t expecting Kyle to be the fire starter, it was so unexpected even when a lot of viewers called it weeks ago and #Emmerdale were so excited to tell us they totally didn’t credit Kyle in an episode where we only saw his figure.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .