Hi

Maybe I am working on very old information, but I thought the Euston area of London left something to be desired? has that changed?

also, anyone have any direct experience with this hotel, or hotel chain? I also thought the Novotels were not that super, but perhaps I was thinking of Formule 1.

thank you!

I will let London-masters answer about Euston.

Novotel is a good chain, we've stayed in 4 of their hotels in Europe, all very well run, modern and clean, great buffet breakfast.

thanks Mamamia. anyone want to weigh in on the hood?

The hotel is fine - but there are probably 25 better neighborhoods to stay in central London.

If you can get a really good deal, the hotel would be perfectly acceptable. But other things being equal I would rather stay farther away from Euston/Kings Cross/St Pancras.

Areas like S. Kensington, Victoria, or Russell Square, etc. all have hotels in the same prices ranges, but are nicer neighborhoods.

Euston is not the nicest part of town. South of the Euston Rd is Bloomsbury - which is very nice. North of the Euston Rd is crack-whore city. This is not an exaggeration.

If you can stay somewhere else I would recomemnd that you do.

thank you David and Janis - you confirmed what I thought. I just recall that the common wisdom was stay away from Euston - other than stopping through it many times on the tube/WAGN, I don't recall ever actually walking around there.

Euston is, as they say, not the nicest part of town.

And that's it. No drug dealers. No muggings. No - at any rate not on the hundreds or thousands of times I've been through it - pickpockets. The area's CCTV'd to a level that Orwell couldn't even have dreamt about.

But it does have one of the world's two or three greatest libraries (with simply THE world's best permanment exshibition of books), some good going on great Indian veggie restaurants, the extraordinary St Pancras building (stay in the area and you might be able to get in and see round it. Opening hours seem erratic enough to deter more distant visitors).

The main downside? The cheapskates in the Flanneruk family - with their children - stay at the Novotel or one of the other mass-market, low-price Euston chains, whenever they're in London.

And that, it's true, brings a neighbourhood down more surely than any amount of "Big Issue" sellers.

As above; you will find the area full of people selling "bigger shoes". However it is also a well dodgy area in parts.

Eversholt St is full of porn shops, and a truly staggering shop called "transformations" which is for cross dressers (bigger shoes indeed)

Somers Town is VERY dangerous, with a major street crime problem (I used to work for Camden Council on the Regents Park estate, and went through the area fairly regularly). As for the maiden Lane area - this is where the street walkers were pushed after the police stepped up their presence in Kings Cross.

There are positives though. There is a very good real ale pub called the Head of Steam in the station area. Drummond St has some interesting (mainly vegetarian ) Indian Restaurants, and you can always buy a really big frock.