I (Tuomas that is) am planning of coming to London in the end of August, need tips on accomodation, etc. (UPDATE: I'm there again for Christmas 2013.)

The Travelodge seems like a decent option to me. I just talked with my friend (the other one had to cancel the trip), and I think we're gonna book a hotel room instead of a private hostel room even if it costs more, because we're both a bit prissy and don't really like the idea of a shared toilet and shower. Especially with the swine flu going on and everything.

if you want to stay in east london, one of my friends stayed in a pretty reasonably priced hotel on hackney rd

You probably don't remember the name, do you?

i know someone had died recently in one of those hotels but i don't really know if it was something dodgy though - police described it as "chemical incident"
http://www.birminghampost.net/news/uk-news/2009/05/03/two-dead-after-hotel-chemical-alert-65233-23532200/

people who stay in central london rather than east london in order to get a more balanced view of london, classic or fucking terrifying?

You probably don't remember the name, do you?

most likely the Days hotel
http://www.hotelshoreditch.com/

only been there a couple of years, ideally located for Shoreditch clubbin, nice Vietnamese restaurants and, of course, Columbia Rd flower market

Yeah that King's Cross Travelodge is a decent location. King's Cross is, erm, not the prettiest place in London but as a base it's very good as you're well placed for everything.

I'd avoid the Kensington one, especially if you want to go to cool/arty/bohemian stuff. If you wanted to hang out with public school girls and City boys I can see how Kensington might appeal, but otherwise god no. You want to be within striking distance of East London for nightlife, not West London.

by the way, east london is pretty artsy tuomas. you'll probably enjoy it. it's a bit pretentious too. it doesn't really represent the rest of london very much but then no part of london really does to be honest, good to travel around everywhere though. and hit some parks.

plus if you stay in kensington check out king's kebab near earl's court station. obv.

hey tuomas - blueski's right, the days hotel was the one my friend stayed at.

Bits of Hackney Road can be pretty grim, I'm not really sure about the location of that Hotel Shoreditch. For one, it's not really Shoreditch (you don't want to be much further east than Kingsland Road) and that bit is a bit of a no-man's land between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green. I'd plump for the King's Cross one over that if it's reasonably priced.

it's not a big deal to be further east than Kingland Rd - 15 min walk tops.

Actually having just Street Viewed it, that bit of Hackney Road is okay. It's a bit far from the Tube though isn't it? That would be a big deal to me if I was visiting London for the first time.

That Days Hotel seems to be over our budget; a two-person room for 7 nights in there costs almost a thousand pounds, whereas in Travelodge you cna get one for less than 600 pounds.

Okay, I think we've decided to stay at the Travelodge, but it turns out they have another hotel at City Road that's almost as cheap:

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/search_and_book/hotel_overview.php?hotel_id=340

The address is 7-12 City Road. Do you think this would be a better location than the King Cross hotel? Or is King Cross hotel (at 100 Kings Cross Road) better located for a visitor?

Most of those Finsbury Park to Manor House hotels are all boarded up now, whatever clientele they did have must have been hit big by the recession.

I think that weird Bergmanesque double suicide didn't help either

Given the choice, I'd plump for City Road, because:

- you can walk to Shoreditch quickly from there (and crucially can walk BACK from Shoreditch easily at night)

- you can walk into the City easily, good for walking around and looking at cool buildings

- you're within striking distance of Clerkenwell and its awesome selection of pubs and restaurants, plus Fabric

- easy bus into the West End

- King's Cross is frankly a shithole, albeit a conveniently located one

Yes, Tuomas will fit in better in Shoreditch

I always thought they were either itinerant labourer hotels or total cathouses.

Tuomas, try this one, ground zero for Shoreditch:

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel/lonct

...and OMG don't stay at Travelodge in King's Cross unless you want to hear trains and horrible drunk businessmen all night.

bring an umbrella

But that City Road location is great for Shoreditch, although my link is closer to the stuff you'd like. xpost

There's not much in it though really, distance wise.

I'd always assumed that Old Street Holiday Inn was horrendously noisy at all hours of the night but that's just an assumption.

I think I have stayed in the City Road one. Seemed OK for the short time I was in it.

I've checked that Holiday Inn, but it's somewhat over our budget. The City Road Travelodge sounds pretty good, though there's a special discount available for the Kings Cross hotel that doesn't seem to apply to the City Road one, so it will cost us a bit more to stay there. I think I can convinve my friend that it's a better option, though, if you're all saying so.

£30 a night, halls of residence just beside Hoxton Square:

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/page-5374

Also there is a recession on, so if you tried one of those sites where you and friend can offer £500 for the week and it's either that or the room goes vacant, you might be in with a bit of luck. It doesn't matter if it's theoretically high season if there are no tourists booking your rooms.

Recession + Swine Flu = you're laughin'

I think that weird Bergmanesque double suicide didn't help either

oh is that what the "chemical incident" was?

xpost either laughin' or oinking

For "chemical incident" read "lesbian suicide pact"

"my lesbian suicide romance"

Airborne Sapphic Event

http://www.laterooms.com/

This site has a special offer for Days Hotel Shoreditch, but booking a room there via that site would cost almost 40% less than booking the same room via the hotel's own website, so that sounds a bit too good to be true. Also, I looked for customer reviews for that site, and it seems there are many unhappy customers who'd found out that the rooms hadn't been booked when they arrived at the hotel, even though the site claimed they had a booking. Do any of you know anything about Laterooms.com, it sounds a bit fishy to me?

laterooms has been fine for me.

can always book, and then check with days hotel to confirm?

can always book, then post here fretfully to confirm?

Hmm, even with the special offer Days Hotel is still more expensive than Travelodge City Road, so I think we'll settle for the latter. 7-12 City Road is also closer to the City than 419 Hackney Road, right?

Seriously, don't bother with Days Hotel, it's in a shit location. City Road is much better.

yeah fuck a hackney road.

you can get to angel easier from there when shoreditch and not finding anywhere to sit down gets too much

oh my god i've become an old man

Okay, it's now confirmed: we'll be in London from Tuesday 25th of August to Monday the 31st, and we'll be staying at the Travelodge on City Road. Neither of us have been to London before, so any tips on gigs, clubs, good pubs in the area + other stuff worth seeing are much appreciated. And if folks are up for a FAP during that week, it would be nice. I'll probably start a new thread a bit closer to the occasion anyway.

It's worth going to the Victoria and Albert Museum because it's free!

Also it is full of cool stuff.

(All the major museums in London are free)

Bits of Hackney Road can be pretty grim, I'm not really sure about the location of that Hotel Shoreditch. For one, it's not really Shoreditch (you don't want to be much further east than Kingsland Road) and that bit is a bit of a no-man's land between Shoreditch and Bethnal Green. I'd plump for the King's Cross one over that if it's reasonably priced.

there is so much nice stuff that's east of kingsland road! broadway market/bethnal green/lauriston road/victoria park/london fields, some of the best things in the east area are v close to that days hotel, even if its immediate surroundings are dull.

but basically any of the suggestions above are fine, cos you can walk wherever pretty easily, and that city road place will be grand I'm sure.

you'd be so much happier getting home at night to city road than hackney road. good choice i reckon.

http://www.hollyhousehotel.co.uk/

^^, caek I have stayed here a number of times. it is extremely cheap - easily the cheapest place ive found in London. It is completely fine to stay in if you expect a basic no frills clean functional tourist room in a central and easily accessible area. I will always choose this place for staying in London - simply for the cost savings

there is so much nice stuff that's east of kingsland road! broadway market/bethnal green/lauriston road/victoria park/london fields, some of the best things in the east area are v close to that days hotel, even if its immediate surroundings are dull.

Yeah but they're not going on holiday to the East End, they're going on holiday to London. Seriously why would anyone staying in London for the first time go out of their way to go to London Fields? It's just a bit of flat grass.

Jesus, East Londoners are almost as bad as Americans for not noticing that anything of value happens outside where they live ;)

but we're right! if it wasn't the case we wouldn't have to make such a to-do whenever we leave our postcode

LOL Londoners

Anyway, purely personal recommendations:

Pubs/bars - loads of good ones near your hotel, some of the bars are a bit wanky but walk into most places and they'll be at least passable. A little bit further West, there are three or four lovely pubs (The Crown/The Three Kings/The Sekeforde Arms) round Clerkenwell Green that are also good for drinking outside. The Reliance on Old Street is a bit of a personal favourite as well. Probably worth doing a FAP earlier in your stay as well, it'll make you feel a bit more at home and you'll get ideas for other stuff to do just by talking to people.

Food - kind of depends how much you want to spend, but you won't be short of options. There are some awesome Vietnamese places clustered round the lower end of Kingsland Road, the best of which is Song Que. If you want to really push the boat out and eat somewhere genuinely world class then you're not far from perennial St John - probably not recommended if there are vegetarians in your party though. Avoid going for a curry on Brick Lane, there are hardly any good restaurants there and perennial ILX favourite Tayyabs knocks them all into a cocked hat. It's in Whitechapel and is VERY popular so worth booking unless you want to queue out of the door.

Art - if you want a really fun and cheap day out just buy a copy of Time Out and wander round various tiny galleries round the Shoreditch/Dalston/Bethnal Green areas. There are literally dozens of them and some of them will have some amazing stuff in them. White Cube in Hoxton Square is always a good starting point and has some Gilbert & George stuff there at the moment. Also near you is the Whitechapel Gallery although I haven't seen what's currently there. Tate Britain, Tate Modern, the Hayward and the Serpentine are all worth visiting as well, depending how much you actually want to do.

Clubbing - the August Bank Holiday weekend is pretty much the biggest party weekend of the year, there will be shitloads of cool stuff going on. I've been a bit out of the loop in recent months but Ronan and the Lex are the people to talk to here. If money's a concern you're better off finding some basement party in Dalston and the T-Bar is reliably excellent, FREE, and usually has some great people playing, especially if you're into techno.

Green spaces - all the main parks in London are lovely - Hyde Park/Regents Park/St James's Park/Victoria Park take your pick really. The best views over London are from the top of Greenwich Park or Hampstead Heath, both of which are further out but well worth visiting. They both have really nice, slightly villagey town centres near them as well but you need to devote more time to going there.

^ excellent

I thought the T-Bar closed?!

Thanks a lot for the recommendations, Matt, will be checking into those. We're both vegetarians, so St. John is probably not a good option, but the other two places you mention sound nice.

My friend studies theatre, so we might want to go to one... If you have any recommendations for local indie theatres (or reasonably priced mainstream ones), those are welcome too.