Born and bred in London, I know the city well, yet I still find it an awkward place to book a good hotel for a stay-over. There are hundreds of fabulous hotels that you can pay an arm and a leg for but also an awful lot of grubby dives if you try to skimp too much.
I frequently have to travel on the Eurostar from St Pancras and when going further than Paris or Brussels it’s often necessary to make an early departure, so I’m always on the look out for decent but not pricey London hotels.
Last week I stayed at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury hotel at 12 Upper Woburn Place, an attractive brick built neo-Georgian town house. It had rooms from £89, but this was a Sunday when hotels are usually cheaper. Walking south it was a 10 minute stroll to the British Museum and all the entertainments of the West End.
I travelled up early on Sunday morning, dropped my bag at the hotel, and spent the day exploring galleries and museums that I hadn’t visited for years. It was a real treat to just stroll back to the hotel when I had had enough, knowing that I would be on time for my early morning train to Germany.
It’s a professionally run hotel with friendly staff, nice smart and clean rooms, plus its own restaurant, bar and even a little gym. I wish more hotels would do what they do, which was to have a mini fridge with complimentary water and milk instead of an over priced minibar. I stocked it with my own drinks and snacks and saved a small fortune.
My only criticism was that there was not much of a breakfast included in the price, just a continental offering, but the real attraction was the 5 minute walk to St Pancras station. This not only allowed me an extra 3 hours in bed, it eliminated all the worry and panic about getting to the station on time.