Kandara Guest House

I stayed here for two nights and found previous reviews accurate. The room I stayed in was fine. The decor was nothing special but it was clean, had flat screen telly and teamaking facilities. Although none of the rooms are en-suite, there are enough bathrooms to never have to wait. Everything in the place was spotless.

What did I like about Kandara?- Its location is ideal - on a leafy quiet street but just a short hop into busy Islington. Also liked the fact that everything was nice and clean. Breakfast was good too and freshly cooked. It is very reasonably priced for London.

What didn't I like? The shower that I used was feeble, I had to jump around to get wet. Some of the information in the guest folder in the room was out of date - eg price of bus passes and travel cards. Also was looking for an internet cafe whose flyer was in the folder, only to find it no longer exists. Whilst it is lovely to have folders with local info in them, it only works if the information is kept up to date. I also would have liked warning that I would have to go across the road to the owners' house to get keys when I arrived at night. I had a very late night before I left so thought the 10am check out on a Sunday was a bit excessively early.

We are looking for a new place to stay in London, as our favorite family-run hotel closed this year. We love Islington. This guest house is actually barely located in Islington - that is, it is not close to the shops/restaurants Islington is known for, although bus is very convenient. It is nowhere near a tube stop. The house is very, very clean. The room was clean, but very small. None of the rooms are en suite, but we had no wait for bathrooms, and they are newly decorated and immaculately clean. We did not stay for breakfast, as we had an early flight. Actually the only glitch in our stay was the personality of the place. Our only human contact was a relatively young person, who seemed shocked when we asked if we could have early breakfast (just fruit and cereal), but did provide us with this, having realized it wouldn't be too much to do. Also he did not know that the bus at the top of the road goes directly to Victoria Station, where we could connect with the Gatwick Express) - a very easy, convenient connection, though you are traveling right across London, and we only would recommend doing this very early in the morning. I would recommend this place to travelers who are not in rush and are looking for a very quiet residential experience in London but do not need much hand-holding from proprietors.

My husband is originally from Islington and he wanted to stay in the area. I only found one review online about Kandara and was a bit aprehensive. But thier description and price was convincing and I booked it. We were able to catch a earlier flight and arrived at the house a few hours early. The hosts were surprised but accomodated us very graciously and after a short wait (while having tea in the kitchen) our room was ready. The room was clean and nice and so were the bathrooms. The breakfast was very good and cooked to order. The only bad thing I have to say is that our room was on the 3rd floor and we had brought way too much luggage. We will not make that mistake again! The host's son helped us carry it up and we were very grateful to him. We are going back to London again this year and hopefully will be able to stay here again.