attention denizens of london, england, and environs

[rone]

venividi is traveling to London in autumn of this year.  Where's a good and inexpensive place for him and his wife to stay that's within walking distance of a Tube station and a grocery store?  Thanks!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

How long are they staying?
How big of a grocery store? Little corner shop, or big supermarket, or pocket supermarket?

[rbarclay.livejournal.com]

The "Hamilton House Hotel" (http://www.hamiltonhousehotel.com/) we stayed in for our vacation last year was OK for the price (cheap) - 3 minutes from Victoria Station (which includes a small shopping mall). Booked via activehotels.com (http://www.activehotels.com/) IIRC.
Of course, YGWYPF.

[lusercop.livejournal.com]

What's "inexpensive" in this context.

There are plenty of tube stations ;-) I'd recommend somewhere in zones 1 or 2, but that's because that's where I've lived all my life. Probably more towards west london than east, or
possibly north or northwest in those zones.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

When Steve and I went to London the spring before last, I got us a tolerably cheap rate at the Park International. $150/night I think?--which isn't exactly cheap by my standards, but as London hotels go it's pretty damn reasonable. The room was not palatially sized but it was more than adequate to our needs (we were there most of a week), and the location is very convenient: it's some 5-7 minutes from the Gloucester Road tube stop, directly above which there is a mini-mall with a grocery store, a drugstore chemist, ATMs, and a few other useful whatsits.

Rate also includes free continental breakfast, which is an improvement over the basket of tasteless fruit & tray of stale danishes one gets in the anonymous business-traveller hotel chain here. Includes cold cuts and cheeses, for one thing.

[adw3345.livejournal.com]

When I go to London, I invariably stay in one of the string of mini-hotels near Paddington Station. Tiny rooms, but complete with a bathroom if you pay extra, and giggly underage teens from Belgium next door having a much funner time than studying for exams. I paid $98 a night for a narrow but serviceable and clean room in 'The Shakespeare', a short walk from Paddington Station. There is a 24 hour Lebanese grocery across from St. Mary's hospital with internet cafe down the street, so you can eat baklava, drink Iron Bru, and surf the web late at night as suits your accustomed timezone. There is only a small microwave and a fridge in the room I stayed in, so that limits what you can reasonably cook in your room.

There are a bunch of other townhouses converted to hotels along the street, I imagine they're all going to be pretty similar to the one I stayed in.

-Derrick

[dr-strych9.livejournal.com]

I stayed at the Paddington Hilton for an IEEE conference in January. I'd second Derrick's advice in a heartbeat. The area around Paddington Station is full of these little hotels, and tube access is pretty reasonable. There are two completely reasonable grocery stores in Paddington Station itself.

back in '93

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

we went to England with no plan and just hit the Tourist Boards to find cheap lodging each place we were headed. In London, we wound up in a nice little place a couple blocks from Paddington. I think the most we spent was £34 a night in Penzance, except for the first night when we booked a hotel in London from the airport instead. Hooray for socialist government authorities! The one rather confusing part was when they asked us what price range we were looking for and came up with places twice as expensive as we wanted, because we were thinking per room and they meant per person.

[mrbalihai.livejournal.com]

Good and inexpensive are mutually exclusive terms where London is concerned, but I can second Derrick's recommendation for the Paddington area.

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Apparently, not the Apollo Hotel. (http://tazira.livejournal.com/298994.html)

Thanks for asking

[venividi.livejournal.com]

Thanks for taking the time and asking for me.

We're staying more or less two weeks. We want something in a residential part of London with easy tube access. Friends of mine have stayed in Kensington before and liked it but the hotel they stayed at no longer exists. 'Expensive' is the Marriot on the Thames. 'Inexpensive' is around half their room rate or less.