Kings Cross
 

I've been hearing three things about the Kings Cross Station. 1) It's in a seedy area. 2) There's a lot of construction which has greatly reduced the general seediness of the population, but it's also a mess. 3) It's the place where platform 9 3/4 was filmed in the Harry Potter movies.

For better or worse, we're staying in a hotel there in June 2004. I'm told about a 3 minute walk to St. Pancras Church. Anyone want to comment on what I've heard or offer advice. For the record, we got a great rate, and in talking to the hotel staff, they seemed quite nice.

We passed thru King's Cross station when heading to the British Library in summer 2001. (It's well worth the trip!) Didn't notice anything paricularly seedy about the area, though we'd heard that reputation, too.

We decided to check out "Platform 9 3/4" while we wre there -- BUT platforms 9 and 10 are in a newish annex in the back, and furthermore no wall between them -- for the movie, Platform 4 played the role of Platform 9. IIRC, JK Rowling mentioned in an interview that she was actually thinking of the setup of the trains at Euston Station when she wrote that scene.

Glad to hear you noted nothing too unusual. Heard nightmares, but then some others told me they noticed nothing, like you. Guess it depends what you're looking for!!!

2+3 are currently true.

1 was true, but the construction seems to have undermined the seediness. Till about a year ago, I lived in a house 15 mins walk from Kings Cross. Often, getting off the tube at KX and walking was the easiest way home.

I hardly ever made the first 200 yds without being propositioned by exceptionally depressing-looking hookers. Who looked as if they were severely mistreated either by their pimps or their drugs. And who used the cheaper hotels south of the station, round Argyll Sq.

But the area was perfectly safe for me (though Mrs F didn't like the walk by herself at night): it has about the heaviest concentration of CCTV in the world

These days, hooking is probably a tougher business, and I don't get propositioned when I go back. But there are still a fair few younger men hanging round - and they're not trying to score a job digging tunnels. They do seem harmless to us civilians.

That said, there are perfectly good hotels and neighbourhoods 3 mins west of KX, round New St Pancras church, and a row of safe but dull chain hotels along Grays Inn Road.

But just pretend for a minute your hotel does double as a brothel. Does it really matter? Thousands of us live in the area all the time. We haven't a scar between us.

You are after all coming to a major cosmopolitan city. What you're coming for is real life.

BI'd worry a lot more about the construction

3 minutes walk from St Pancras Church could be a rather nice area (which I wouldn't call Kings Cross at all) or a rather depressing one (on the main road, at least). It would be a help if you could post the hotel address so we could advise you further.

Regarding Harry Potter & platform 9 3/4 - yes it is at Kings Cross Station and you can see it there - it's plainly marked (saw it last April), though of course to us muggles it will appear to be only a brick wall. Still if you're at the station anyway you might want to take a photo there for your Harry Potter fan (I did for my niece) but I wouldn't make a special trip to KX just for that. There is a lot of construction going on at the sttion to prepare for the channel tunnel to arrive there (currently it goes to Waterloo) but when I was there last spring all the construction was outside and the inside if the station was unaffected.

Patrick, or anyone... the address of the hotel near Kings Cross that we're staying at is 2-5 St. Chad's St. Any observations? Thankx!

St Chads St is VERY close to the station and Argyle Square. The worst of the scary folks have been run off but this location is not the best - cheap hotels and tons of construction in all the surrounding streets.

Unless I was getting a HUGE bargain rate I would not personally stay there - and even if the price was great I'd have my doubts. But you are not going until June - plenty of time to find another place . . . . .

Wow, now I'm in a panic. We had reserved the Comfort Inn Kings Cross-- a 3-star facility which states it's on a quiet residential street. The picture looked nice-- It runs about $225 a night, and I'll have to pay a fee to change the reservations. My next choice will be the Comfort Inn Notting Hill. Any thoughts. By the way, you have all been very helpful

The Comfort Inn is a fairly decent property but in not such a good neighborhood. But -- $225 is a lot of money. For that much (or much less) a night you could have your choice of wonderful places in terrific neighborhoods like Knightsbridge, S. Kensington, etc.. Is there a reason you are only looking at Comfort Inns and these two in particular? Is it part of a package? If not, that is a LOT to spend to stay near Kings Cross.

I agree with the others especially Janis and flanneruk. The area is dotty but not dangerous. It just wouldn't be my vacation destination. I'd be OK if I stayed there but it wouldn't ever be my first choice.
Are you wedded to Comfort Inns? Nottinghill is a fine locale but for $225/night I think you can do much better.

Best pick for a budget locate is Travel Inn County Hall (Waterloo side of the Thames, next to the London Eye,view of Big Ben, Westminster and Parliament). This far out you should have no problem getting room for under $150 a night)

Some Comfort Inns in London have absolutely horrible reviews. I know that at least one, Comfort Inn Vauxhall, is a fairly new, very nice hotel. I think I've read very negative reviews of Comfort Inn Notting Hill and Comfort Inn Bayswater in particular.

The $225/night seems ridiculously high, when you could probably get a 4* hotel on Priceline for less than half of that. How much of a fee do you stand to lose?

Ok, possible new plans. Anyone heard of the Enterpise Hotel at 15-25 Hogarth Rd in Kensington/Knightbridge? It's a possible substitute for us-- cheaper, still a 3 star, and I'm hearing a decent neighborhood. I got the travel change fee waived-- so I can make a change if I like. Advice is welcome. My thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. So I don't seem like an idiot, it appears I got a really good hotel in Paris for the 2nd leg of the trip-- the St. James and Albany across from the Louvre! Now help me make as good a choice in London!

That road in actually close to Earls Court, not really in Kensington or Knightsbridge (I HATE it when hotels try to fool folks by saying S Kens, or Kens when they are actually in Earls Court - this is a really common "scam").

But not to worry - parts of Earls Court are also dicey but in general it is a MUCH better area than Kings Cross. This hotel is pretty close to the Earls Court tube station and Cromwell Road. I would much rather stay here than in Kings Cross or the Nottinghill Comfort Inn.

smiroglotta,

Run, don't walk, to tripadvisor.com and travelocity and read the reviews of this hotel. Uniformly dismal. I take these things with a grain of salt but no one had a single good thing to say about this place.

Earls Court area is better than Kings X but I think the main reason people stay there is because it's chockablock with budget hotels. If $225/night is your upper limit, you can still do better in more central London. Have you looked in the Bloomsbury area?

I'd be very cautious about staying at the Enterprise Hotel in Earls Court. A few months ago, it was featured on a TV programme about bad hotels (unfortunately, I only caught the end of the programme so don't know the full details - maybe other fodorites saw it?). I'd agree with not staying at the Comfort Hotel Bayswater - stayed there a couple of years ago - and the service was terrible.

Smiroglotta
Are you choosing from a limited list of hotels? If so, perhaps if you could list them here we could comment on which areas would be nicest.
If you're not choosing from set list then there are certainly many other options in nicer areas of London and a search on the forum should pull up plenty of recent posts.

Whilst I'd agree that King's Cross has improved significantly (the seedier side seems to have been pushed over to Camden) and that it's a perfectly safe area to live in and travel through, it just isn't particularly <i>nice</i> and not the area I'd choose for a holiday trip.

Happy Travelling!

My comments were about the street/area - not the hotel. If it is as bad as the others have said -- I'd continue looking. Earls Court IS better than Kings X, but it also has a LOT of cheap/seedy hotels.

As Kavey says, it would be a lot more productive if you just give us the whole list of your hotel options and we could comment.

As several of us have mentioned $225 (approx &pound;125) a night would give you TONS of options for great properties. But if you are limited to specific ones for some reason, tell us which and we can give informed info.

Are you on a tour? Is that why your choices are so limited?