London B&B
 

My husband, 13 year old son, and I are headed to London late this spring for four nights arriving later the first night from Ireland. We have been looking for a B&B that is reasonably close to either a tube stop OR simply in central London. We do not want to go to London to stay in a chain hotel (nothing wrong with them - just a personal preference). Let me add that we completely understand that the rooms will be very, very small. We have found two that seem to get good reviews on other websites but were wondering if anyone had any personal knowledge of: The Parkwood at Marble Arch and The Lincoln House Hotel.

Does anyone have any information / personal experience at either of these two B&B's?

Are there any other's in the £130.00 per room price range?

Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.

Eva

http://www.harlingfordhotel.com/booking.html

In Bloomsbury.

Hi; This B & B is in district #1, near Victoria Station and many of the sights. www.limetreehotel.co.uk/home.htm

Just so you know -- most (not all - but most) "B&B's" in London are inexpensive B&B hotels -- not cozy B&B/Guest houses like in the countyside.

The Lincoln House looks OK -- but seems fairly pricey for that class of hotel.

The Parkwood is a bit less expensive (unless there 2011 rates have gone up a lot).

One issue - They are both on the Central line and not very convenient to LHR or to LGW (which airport are you using?)

Bloomsbury is on direct Tube line to Heathrow.

You might look at AtHomeinLondon--they have "true" B&B's, room/s in a person's home. We stayed in one last July/August that had room for 3 for 4 nights--in Bayswater area about a 5-8 minute walk from Bayswater tube stop. Not what some would call "central" but pretty short Tube ride/s to all we wanted to see, plus all sorts of "stuff" on Queensway. This room had 3 beds in a roomy room with a huge bath--basically we had the whole top floor (yes, there were 2 flights to climb). Not gorgeous (kinda ugly front door!) and not great views from windows, but we weren't there for the stuff IN the room; safe, roomy, under what you say you're willing to pay, good breakfast, and we liked the neighborhood feel with touristy conveniences 2 blocks away. Anyway, we've used AtHomeinLondon twice (first time just DH and I, second with DD, so we had to use different accomodations) and if (?when?!) we return to London we will start our room search with them. (The biggest disadvantage we found was that we were not near enough a Picadilly line stop to make us willing to ride the tube from LHR, so we used JustAirports which is wonderful, but a lot more than the Tube--but great for convenience, too.)

http://www.athomeinlondon.co.uk/

Yeah, what she said!

During this past Christmas we stayed at the Thanet Hotel in Bloomsbury. It was a very short walk to the British Museum. From the hotel we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral and Covent Garden. When we didn't want to walk we had the choice of Russell Square station or Holborn Station. We also learned the bus routes and used them, catching the bus just across a little park from our hotel. On Christmas day there is absolutely no public transportation so we wanted a good location without hurting our budget. It's a small hotel with breakfast included and we had a very pleasant stay. It was my husband and myself but we had the nicest room which had two double beds and a balcony as well as a non working fireplace. The bathroom was small but we don't spend much time in them anyway ;;) www.thanethotel.co.uk Deborah

Thanks everyone for the input, advise, and suggestions. We will take a look at everything that was suggested.

Have a look at the Special Places to Stay website, there are lots in London and they are real B&Bs in people's houses, not hotels.