You get what you pay for, mostly, and that is true with this place. It was only @ £150/night for a clean single bedroom with its own WC, despite an excellent location near St. Pancras, the British Museum, British Library, the Wellcome Collection, etc. So why so cheap?
First, the spaces were small. We thought this added to the ambiance, like we were in a submarine or the Churchill War Rooms. Unfortunately, this does decrease the space you have to put things. Also, if you're taller than 6' 2" you'll have to crouch in the shower. There was a slight mildewy smell in the WC, and the toilet didn't flush reliably.
More importantly, and oh-so-typically, there was no air conditioning. But there was a fan mounted on the wall, and we could open the window to a small interstice between the buildings. These measures helped, as did the fact that the day we moved in the heatwave subsided. However, cigarette smell occasionally wafted in the window.
The biggest deal for me was noise. This wasn't the noisiest place we've ever stayed, for sure. But the noise here was poorly timed. On our first night, I was awakened at 11 PM by activity overhead. I'm guessing that someone was moving stuff and/or cleaning. It lasted about 20 minutes, which wasn't long enough for me to get dressed and investigate. But it took awhile to get back to sleep. Occasionally, there was loud hall noise, too, which was inevitable in such an intimate building.
If you have a downstairs room, as we did, the breakfast proceedings could wake you, too. We were up already anyway, but around 7AM you'll smell breakfast, and then it may get loud, depending on who's eating that morning.
If you're a heavy sleeper who travels light, and the weather is below 75 F, this hotel should work for you. read more