We are going to london for a long weekend in a few weeks. from the US. We just realized that the hotel we are staying at only serves breakfast till 8:30am. Is this typical?

Since we are only going to be in London for a few days, we were not planning to try to fully adjust to the 5 hour time difference. On short visits - usually go to bed late and sleep till after 9 AM.

Obviously we will buy breakfast on our own this time - at least for the first few days.

But wondering if anyone knew of decent hotels - under $200 that serve breakfast later than 8:30, somewhere near the belgrava area. could be on any side of that area. people we are visiting live in that section.

thanks

Unless you have reason to believe your particular hotel has a spectacular breakfast, I can't imagine basing your hotel decision on how late they serve it. I can count on one hand the number of British hotels where breakfast was worth getting up for at all, free or not. You can pop out to a nearby Pret a Manger or other place and do better for a couple pounds.

Mind you, it dos make me wonder what sort of a hotel it is that stops serving breakfast quite so early, and what that says about their attitude to their clients and what that means for the rest of their services. If Joanel hasn't checked it out on tripadvisor, it might be worth doing so.

Are you sure it's not from 8:30am? I can't believe than any establisment worth staying at stops serving breakfast at a time when most people are awake.

However, you are best to skip breakfast and have an early lunch. I can never be bothered looking for breakfast places, so if my rate doesn't include it I'll go out and have a light lunch somewhere. Or if you must have breakfast go to a food store like M&S and buy some pre-prepared fruit. Belgravia proper (for I don't know what you're calling Belgravia) doesn't really have many little shops selling food at all, it has good places for smarter lunches/dinners, and some nice interiors shops.

Do you have to have breakfast?

I agree with Patrick, unless you are positive this hotel serves a great breakfast I would not consider it a deal breaker. If this is truly an issue then call the hotel directly and ask. It seems odd to me they would stop serving at 8:30 tho. 9:30-10 a.m. I would understand but not 8:30.

We also enjoy breakfast and frequently prefer to have it at hotel if we can but if that is not possible there are a lot of places in London to grab something to eat. If nothing else, there seems to be a Starbucks and/or other coffee place on every corner. They all offer muffins, croissants, rolls as well. Maybe not a gourmet breakfast, but it will get you going.

Hi J,

Unless your breaskfast is included in the hotel rate, you are generally better off skipping it at the hotel.

Our experience is that, for the price, English hotel breakfasts have been rather miserable.

Are you absolutely sure about b'fast ending at 0830? Living in the UK for 5 years and traveling back every year for more than 20 years I cannot remember a single place that quit servig that early. In fact lots of American complain because they can't get b'fast early enough (being used to getting on the road at 0 dark 30 when vacationing in the States)

Which hotel is it?

Seems possible that the last 'entry' to breakfast is 8.30, so they know that everyone will be done by 9. Bit early though!

Want a laugh...I stayed at a farm B&B with my son and was told when checking in that our breakfast sitting was 8am sharp. the family behind us - who had 4 young children, were told they had to report for the first breakfast sitting at 7am! No amount of pleading helped them. so they spent their break getting 4 kids up, washed and dressed at the crack of dawn.

Then on our first morning I was on time but my son came along at 8.15am. When we got back to our room there was an A4 sheet of paper pushed under the door with (printed in very large letters) 'Please ensure that you attend breakfast on time in future'.

I can't imagine they get a lot of repeat business or word of mouth recommendations.

By the way it was Hermitage Farm near Alton Towers. Very nice young man trying his best (said 'Do come again' with a look of desperation as we checked out) but the mother was a complete and utter battleaxe. Breakfast was rubbish too - so miniscule it was served on a side plate! They advertised a vegetarian option but when one person asked what the veggie breakfast was, they looked at her like she was barmy and said with a tone of disbelief 'the same as the English but without the meat', so she basically only got half a breakfast.

nona1: Your post brought back an OLD memory. I do remember one working farm B&B where something similar happened to me. This was back in the 70's and maybe your battleaxe was the "sweet young thing" who acted the same way at a B&B in Yorkshire. Breakfast at 0700 or else! W/o the "vegetarian option" ofcourse since that was pretty much unheard of back then.

But still the exception

Our Hyde Park Radnor Hotel in London this June only served breakfast till 9:00. I thought that was too early, but it's a small place and the breakfast staff is also the cleaning staff, so they finish in the kitchen and start cleaning rooms. The breakfast was actually quite decent-- hot eggs to order, ham, toast, tomatoes, potatoes and cold cereals, juice, milk-- included in the price.
I feel your pain, as I'm a firm believer in eating a good breakfast before heading out for the day. That way a light lunch and early dinner will do it for the day.