Rating out of 10: 2
Date stayed: January 2008
review: First of all, the Lonsdale has a good location,
in a nice part of London and close to the centre. We stayed for one night after
coming down from the Midlands to see a musical in the West End and it was very
convenient for that. That, however, is one of the few good things you can say
about it. The staff was generally surly and uncommunicative and entirely foreign
- some spoke very poor English. The first room we were given had no headboards
on the bed and stank of stale cigarette smoke - despite our requesting a
non-smoking room. The second room was very hot (radiators on full and no way of
turning them down) and the light in the bathroom didn't work. We were assured
that this would be fixed, and in all fairness both were fixed quickly. However,
although the radiators were off the room remained very warm; it was not a cold
night and we had to have the window wide open all night, which made it rather
noisy. The furniture and fittings were barely adequate - many items were
cracked, old and poorly maintained. The carpets were shabby and frayed. The 'ensuite
bathroom' was a cabinet installed in one corner of the room and while clean
enough was very cramped; there was hot water, as long as you worked out that the
shower had to be turned towards the cold end to get hot! The room wasn't too
dirty, but could certainly have been better. The television worked, but wasn't
tuned into any stations. Breakfast was adequate (bacon, sausages, fried eggs,
toast, orange juice, tea), but kept running out and had to be replenished
(slowly) by very surly kitchen staff. There was only one flavour of jam and no
sauces at all. All in all, not a particularly pleasant experience and I'm glad
we only stayed one night - I certainly wouldn't have stayed any more. £75 per
night may be cheap for London, but it is still not exactly cheap and I expect
much more for my money. I have stayed in many (much, much cheaper) hostels in
major European cities, and I have to say that this 'hotel' was far worse than
any of them. Not recommended at all.
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