Thanks to this forum, we have located several apartment rentals for our London trip next month. Wondering if anyone could tell me which of these locations is best:
The "Britannia" section or "South Bank" area?
Thank you all so much for your help.

I'm not sure what is meant by "Britannia" section. And South Bank includes a huge area. If you are close to a tube in each, there may be little difference, but if by South Bank you are a twenty minute walk from a tube station and it's cold -- that would be the killer for me! I think the best thing is to get the actual addresses of the two possibilites and repost with those. Let someone tell you how far from a tube station each is or what is nearby.

Thank you Patrick. I will get exact locations. One is described as being on Hoxton Square in "London's cool Britannia section", and the other just says South Bank near the Globe Theatre. You are right, we do not want to have to hike in cold (rain ?) to the tube stop.

Mistrust anyone talking about "London's cool Britannia section". We don't have "sections" here: (what's a "section" meant to be, anyway?), and there's nowhere called Britannia. The adveryisers are getting a Tony Blair self-promoting stunt the wrong way round.

Hoxton Square is a self-consciously trendy square about 200 yards from Old Street tube. A number of exceptionally wimpish posters here have gone into maiden-aunt conniptions about Old Street, which was a bit bleak a couple of years ago. It's not the kind of place I frequent at night, but lots of Young People do, and I'd imagine it might get a bit noisy, though almost all pubs and bars close round 11pm. IT REALLY IS SAFE unless, like me, you're allergic to crowds of Young People drinking silly beers. It's very handy for some minor pleasures like Bunhill Fields and Brick Lane, and the walk to the eastern attractions (like the Tower) though the City, is terrific. However, you need to change tubes to get to Old Street from any of the western attractions. All of which being said, the real life of the area (PG Wodehouse heroes were always doing good among the deserving poor of Hoxton) has been driven out by successive waves of Nazi bombers, socialist reconstructors, and modern speculators in trendy apartments. It now consists mostly of "stunning apartments", design agencies and bars. But then, so does most of the South Bank.

I'm not sure what you're looking to spend, but here's an apartment I've had bookmarked for a while. At 500 pounds for the week and in the heart of SOHO (maybe a little noisy, but sure convenient) it sure looks good to me for that price. I always rent the same flat in Covent Garden (9 years now) and love being that central especially for the theatres where I spend much of my time, Soho is the same to me.
http://www.vrbo.com/20753

Sounds perfect for us except that there are 6 in our group, and this one is for 2-4. We are open to a 2 BR w/ fold-out sofa, just want to not be too far from everything, near a tube stop and not too expensive (in the $300/500GBP per night range). I am not that familar with the different areas of London, so have been reading past posts on this site trying to familiarize myself. Of course all the advertisers make every location sound perfect.
Thank you and other responders for any and all help.

OOPS.....make that 500 GBP for 5 nights!

Old Street is just terribly poor. It's depressing, and a place that I doubt any tourist would wish to visit without prior reason. South Bank is better, a little more civilised, and of course you've got the river.

As for your budget, 100GBP per night would be nothing if one wished to purchase a long (over a year) let for a three/two bed centrally located apartment. It's very tough to work with, and sure if you're got six people, you could stretch it to at least 200GBP per night which would offer you a far greater choice of places to stay?

You are absolutely right, and you all will have to forgive me, I do not have the dollar/GBP conversion thing down yet.... we can get hotel accommodations for the 6 of us for 300 American dollars per night, so I was looking to find an apt. in that range.

300USD I'd say would get you a good four star/lesser five star hotel for just two people for one night room only. However, you want something for six people. I can only imagine you'll be staying in a dump.

If you look at the weighting of your holiday it's all on flights. You must be able to fork out some more money on places to stay. 50USD pppn is just a ridiculous budget to be playing with. I've no idea where you could get for that price for six people, rental or otherwise.

What you're asking for is a little bit like wanting to go to New York New York from London, stay five nights and expect the whole lot to be less than 500GBP, it's not going to happen.

Sorry to put a damper on things, but you really must be more realistic. London is the second most expensive city next to Tokyo, and you're not going to find anything remotely central for a very short stay for 50USD pppn. I hope that you can prove me wrong!

We rented a two bedroom apartment at Scala House, near the Goodge Street tube. The area is very convenient and the price is in your range.

http://www.scala-house.co.uk/

As Flanner says -- Hoxton Sq is not the "cool" Britannia section, it is a "Cool Britannia" type area which just means a yuppified section w/ lots of young professionals clubbing and drinking. (Cool Britannia is sort of a new labour campaign theme)

Now back to your main question -- sure you'll be able to fine a decent sized 2-bdrm or 3-bdrm flat for 6 w/i your budget.

Try these to get started

E&E Apartments [email protected] phone 011-44-171-828-0453 (apparently they finally have a website but I can't find the url) They offer 2 bedroom flats set up to sleep 6 for about £105 per night for a week's stay and £115 (approx $220) for shorter lets. The flats are in Pimlico and Victoria, near the Thames, Tate Britain, Chelsea and Victoria Station.

Scala House www.scala-house.co.uk Phone 011-44-171-580-6644. An Apartment bldg with 2-bedroom flats near Tottenham Court Rd and Oxford Street in central London. About £100-£150 per night for smallish but decent 2 bdrms

Two bedrooms with six adults, and probably only one bathroom will be very uncomfortable, and bear in mind most apartments will not be air-conditioned.

good point, m_kingdom most people wouldn't have worried about that lack of air-conditioning in London in February. Huh?

Yes, we can do 2 bedrooms, but we must also have 2 baths, at least. I have found quite a few places in my price range actually, but just need to get a grip on locations. The hotel for $300 per night was a Comfort Inn/ 2 rooms. We would just prefer to all stay together in a flat. The "cool britannia section" doesn't sound like our kind of place, so I'm very glad for the information here. Thanks loads. If I get any further address specifics, I will be asking for help. I hope you don't mind.
Thanks again.

My dear, with six people crammed into two bedrooms, air conditioning will make the atmosphere much more pleasant.

As for this "cool Britannia", it's not real, merely a piece of hype and spin, ignore it please!

jwr: Multiple bathrooms are a lot less common in London than we may be used to in the States. Many higher end places do have 2 or 3 baths.

But when you are looking at flat descriptions, do realize that "bath and WC" or "Bath and cloakroom" means what we would call 1.5 baths. One full bath (or shower, or both) room, plus another 1/2 bath with toilet and (usually) a basin.

The E & E Apartments I mentioned above do have a few 2-bdrm/2 full bath flats for £20 per week extra (about £3 per night for shorter lets.

Janis, thank you for the phone numbers. I will call them tomorrow. The apts. I have found so far are through VRBO and CHS London.