Gresham Hotel Bloomsbury

It's cheap and central but not recommended

I got here very late (24hour reception) and left early. I only stayed here because I was in London for the evening and didn't want to have to rush away to catch the last train (or miss it and be stranded!). So I booked the Gresham in Bloomsbury.

Before booking I had read all the reviews so I knew it wasn't going to be good - and it wasn't. But on the positive side, the bed was clean and comfortable, there was hot water in my room and they had provided a towel and soap and the TV worked. I didn't try the shared facilities but I had a look at them, the shower looked clean at 6am - (don't know what it would be like later after several guests had used it). There were two loos on my floor, one was in complete darkness and had a hole in the ceiling where the light used to be. The other was perfectly adequate.

My room was small but very very hot and although I was able to turn down the heating, I couldn't turn it off completely. My window looked out onto the street and the noise from the traffic was awful when I opened it in the morning. The decor was shabby and the whole place needs complete modernisation.

Breakfast was included in the price and was ok - a cooked breakfast - eggs scrambled or fried, bacon and sausage. I just had the scrambled eggs and toast - it was ok. There was cereal and fruit juice available too.

The most worrying thing about this hotel was the door locks - they don't. Unless I was doing something really stupid (which is entirely possible) I just couldn't work out how to lock the door - I had read in the hotel reviews that other people had had this problem too so I wasn't entirely surprised. Of course it meant that I wasn't able to leave anything in the room and this is the main reason why I wouldn't stay here again.

Unique Quality: The unique thing about this hotel is that it's in Bloomsbury and you would expect to pay a lot more for a hotel room in this area.

I have indicated that I was somewhat unsatisfied with this hotel - a hotel with doors that don't lock is can never be satisfactory. Check your key/lock works as soon as you arrive.

• Opinion of Price: less expensive than average
• Related to: Music, Theater Travel, Trains

Gresham Hotel Bloomsbury

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