London apartments - any feedback?

I rented from A Place Like Home a couple of years ago, and it was fine. The apartment was exactly as pictured (neither of yours is it), but we did have a couple of service issues. The first was that the woman who let us into the apartment was more than a bit rude and also late (so she gave them impression that it might somehow be our fault for her being late), and the second is that one of the toilets broke and they never did manage to get a plumber around to even look at it, much less fix it. And we were there an entire week, so it's not as if there wasn't enough time.

Still, it was a nice property and a decent price.

Why do all the British flats I've looked at to rent (and rented, in some cases) have those dinky little TV's? Sigh.

I like the first, though keep in mind it is probably below ground, not that that was a problem for us. I would be more concerned with the fact that there are no pictures of the kitchen. And tub or shower only?

Are you allergic to central locations?

The Ovington Gardens flat is the most central of the bunch. MelJ is probably correct, though. That said, there's nothing inherently wrong with a garden apartment in central London - that part is not a bad area chock full of council flats and nutters.

The St. Katherine Dock's location kinda sucks. It is quite far from the nearest tube station and on the far side of Tower Bridge from Central London. If you want to day trip west (Hampton Court Palace, Windsor), northwest (Oxford, Stratford on Avon) or even north (via Euston or King's Cross/St. Pancras), it's an absolute crap location. And the link doesn't work, so that's potentially disturbing.

The Notting Hill Gate/Holland Park one is residential, I think, but it is also a bit of a trek to anyplace the normal tourist prefers to visit (Westminster, Trafalgar Sq, the Tower, British Museum, St. Paul's, the West End, Leicester Square, etc.).

Someday an enterprising person will buy up a bundle of British flats and outfit them with inexpensive 32" flat screens that you can get for relatively cheap ($300 or less) and jump into the 21st century.

"The St. Katherine Dock's location kinda sucks. It is quite far from the nearest tube station"

Not at all. It is about a 5 min walk from Tower Hill Station. I would have thought the same as BigRuss . . . Until I actually stayed there (see my trip report).

I Normally like to stay in Pimlico, but because of 'situations', St Katherine's Marina was the only place I could find that met our needs w/i our budget. Would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Lots of places to eat practically on the door step, a great supermarket w/i a 3 minute walk, the Tower, the river, the easy tube connections, and the #15 bus all make it just about as convenient as more central locations. And a lot more convenient than Holland Park.

Went to the Ceremony of the Keys and afterwards was home w/ glass of wine in hand in less than 10 minutes

I'm always amazed not just at the miniature TVs - how 90's - but also by the tiny fridges inn most apartments. It's not they they are apartment sized fridges - versus house size (6' tall side by side) but most appear to be boat fridges - so small that they fit under a counter.

I assume that these apartments are furnished based on tourists wanting to use he fridge for snacks or making breakfast. There's no way you could fit the food for a family for one day in those mini-fridges.

"I assume that these apartments are furnished based on tourists wanting to use he fridge for snacks or making breakfast. There's no way you could fit the food for a family for one day in those mini-fridges."

That is the size of fridge in many UK houses, let alone apartments. And that means family homes, not just holiday rentals. Nowadays many do have larger refrigerators . . . If you have ever seen something like House Hunters International -- there is often a comment about an "American style fridge" because that is such a bonus.

Not that many years ago, those very small ones were the standard. As was daily shopping and milk delivery so large capacity wasn't an issue. But then again, lots of people don't refrigerate as much stuff as Americans do -- eggs, fruit, veg etc. When I lived in the UK for 5 years -- that's the type of fridge I had and survived just fine.

I have rented twice from A Place Like Home and had excellent experiences both times.