London Budget Lodging

[lola]

We've had good luck with B&B hotels in London, and I've found that triadvisor.com reviews have been a good guide to quality.

In February, I spent 5 nights in a basic single room at The Princess, on Argyle St. just down from St. Pancras, and liked it very much. www.princesshotel.co.uk/
My room was in the lower level, was spotless with a comfortable double bed and two white-tiled bathrooms within 20 feet of my door. It had a large window that opened towards the back, nice and quiet, birds singing. Hotpot, tea bags in the room, a TV. You sign up for a breakfast time and either "full English" or "continental" the day before, and I always chose the earliest at 0700. I could sit and observe the Romanian kitchen women flirt with and mother the young Italian night clerk who comes down after his shift to be mothered. Adequate, non-fancy food and coffee. At 40 GBP including breakfast and VAT for a basic single, I was very pleased and sorry to leave. The evening desk man greets you by name as he buzzes you in, which adds a homey touch.

The next week, my daughter was going to be staying with me to get a break from her dorm room, so we splashed out with the Celtic Hotel, formerly St. Margaret's, just off Russell Square. Elegant breakfast room and very fine breakfast made to order, sent up in a dumbwaiter and served by uniformed waitresses. Very comfortable and well-run family hotel.
www.stmargaretshotel.co.uk/W_e_l_c_o_m_e.html

[Deleted]

I was very happy with the Lincoln House Hotel during the Christmas season. It's a few blocks from Oxford Street, and you even get a discount for paying in cash.

Oops... but it appears to perhaps be closed at the moment! Or maybe not. Damn, it already seemed perfect to me, but a closure for renovations always means inflated prices later: www.lincoln-house-hotel.com/

[nycgirl]

Thanks, this is good to know. When I was single and in my 20s in London, my "budget lodging" was a friend's couch. That sort of thing wouldn't fly anymore.

[htmb]

I stayed in the Megaro Hotel, very near your B & B, Lola, and found the area to be a handy location for catching trains, the Tube, and buses. I loved exoloring Saint Pancras and Kings Cross, and found the tunnel going under Euston Road at the corner of my hotel to be helpful due to rain and traffic.