help needed:small london hotel
 

<BR>Alas our favorite small hotel is booked solid for Sept. Any suggestions for a charmer under $200 ? Thanks.

Jackie, <BR>You might want to consider the Colonnade Hotel at 2 Warrington Crescent, London W9 1ER. Telephone: 0171 286 1052; FAX: 0171 286 1057. The Colonnade is a small (40 room) hotel that's been family owned and operated since the late 1930's. It has had an interesting history. Formerly two town houses, it has been a girls school, an old folks home, a one time residence of Sigmund Freud and the home of the cryptographer who deciphered World War II Germany's "Enigma" code. The hotel is in Little Venice within 50 yards of the Warwick Avenue tube station on the Bakerloo line. There is a bus stop by the tube station that goes to Trafalgar Square via Oxford Street, Oxford Circus and Piccadilly. The area is residential; I don't think there's another hotel within half a mile. Little Venice with its canal, boat rides and walking path canal side is a charming part of London. The hotel has a restaurant, (full English breakfast included in the room price), a small bar and dining outdoors in a garden setting if the weather's good. Rooms are good sized, baths modern, amenities such as clothes presses and safes in each room. The proprietor, Mr. Richards is extremely knowledgeable about the goings on in London, special exhibits, concerts, etc. The hotel has a resident cat, "Mouse", who's picture appears on cocktail napkins, coasters and hotel stationery. He has an oil painting of himself hanging in the lobby and will probably greet you at the reception desk or outside the restaurant. A double room with bath and breakfast cost L80 during our most recent stay.

I am going to London with my husband next week. We will be staying at the WIllett- which seems to be highly recommended by many reliable sources. its small, centrally located, and seems to have a lot of amenities- access to a gym with pool, etc. Its about 185 US an night. Good luck! PS the Willett is on the web, look for Elegant English Hotels.

In June we stayed at the Claverly Hotel on Beaufort Street and enjoyed it: small, comfortable, nicely decorated rooms, in your price range. Very good breakfast included. Beaufort Gardens is a quiet street just off Brompton Road and 2 blocks from Harrods (I could see it from my bedroom window!) You're 2 blocks from the Underground (Knightsbridge), and close to the boutiques and restaurants of Beauchamp Place. Don't have the phone number, but it's on the Fodor hotel list.

Jackie, <BR>An excellent site for info related to hotels etc in the UK is www.theaa.co.uk. Give this site a try and you might find what you are looking for. <BR>Enjoy your trip. <BR>Kris

We haven't stayed there yet, but we are booked into the Morgan Hotel, in Bloomsbury, just across from the British Museum. I believe it is recommend in Fodors. They also have several small apartments with little kitchens, which we are getting. It is handy to go out to lunch, have a salad/sandwich supper in one's kitchen and go to the theater. <BR> <BR>I also noticed, in looking for a hotel, that the Ebury Court, near Victoria Station, continues to be highly recommended. We stayed there twenty years ago. It was clean and cozy, with great breakfasts and a lot of English clientele which I took as a very good sign. Don't expect American motel-size rooms. These are small, with the bathrooms down the hall (unless they have modernized). <BR> <BR>

Try the Gresham Hotel, Sussex Gardens, London. Morgan Hotel (mentioned in earlier replies) has no fax (!) and no lift (elevator), but friends of mine stayed there and they liked it. Good luck.

Try Manzies in Leicester Square. It is a non-advertised, but extremely popular hotel right in the centre of the West End. You can easily walk to theatre, Covent Garden, Trafalgar square, etc,,, plus it isn;t too expensive. All rooms are ensuite, and they quoted me a single room for 53 pounds in June, so a double would most likely be around 70. 1-2 Leicester Rd., Leicester Square, London,