The Belgrave Oval

We needed comfortable, quiet, affordable accommodation near to the Oval, and there aren’t many options available - but the Belgrave suited us very well.

It is situated within a few minutes walk of the Oval tube station. The exterior is, shall we say, unpretentious; the interior is a lot smarter.

I booked online, and check-in was quick and stress-free. I have to say that all the staff we encountered were charming, helpful and friendly - and very efficient.

Our room was not enormous, but did not feel cramped. It was spotlessly clean, and comfortably and intelligently furnished and equipped - crisp white bed linen, wool carpet, good mirrors and fittings, lined curtains, flat-screen TV, safe, tea & coffee making facilities, hairdryer etc. We had a full bathroom, attractively tiled, with a shower over the bath, huge fluffy white towels, dispensers of shower gel and handwash.

We were at the front, overlooking Clapham Road, but apart from the occasional emergency vehicle we were not aware of traffic noise.

The price included a simple Continental buffet breakfast - croissants, toast, cereals, yoghurt, fruit; plus orange juice, tea, but only instant coffee.

The breakfast room is in the basement. Whereas a lot of money has been spent on refitting the hotel, with marble, pale wood, wool carpets etc, the approach to the breakfast room has been neglected and lets the place down - it is frankly dingy. The breakfast room itself is bright and clean but has the air of a works canteen (plastic chairs, no curtains...). As such a lot of money has already been invested, it seems a pity not to complete the job with a few cosmetic improvements in the basement, say pretty curtains, wood tables and chairs, a few pictures.

We had read up on the place, and seen that it was originally a 2 star hotel, upgraded to 4 star after the refit. I feel the classification is over-generous (it felt like a standard 3 star hotel to me), and it probably does the hotel no favours as it raises people’s expectations. For 4 star accommodation I think you expect real coffee! I suspect that some of the unfavourable reviews that appear are from people who have looked at the classification not the prices, which are definitely NOT at 4 star level!

Our stay was quiet, comfortable and we will definitely stay there again if we need to visit the area. One important point however to bear in mind: our bath was raised quite high above the floor, and would have been difficult for anyone very elderly or disabled. Worth mentioning any such requirements when booking.

The French man at the desk was possibly the most rude human being I have ever encountered on entering the hotel we were told that our room was not ready and would not be ready for another few hours. When we asked to store our luggage their luggage room was "full" when we asked to leave our bags in the unoccupied office we were rudely dismissed, after about twenty minutes of attitude from the boy behind the desk who continued to blare out some loud music from his computer which he was so fascinated with, I asked to talk to the manager, he wasn't there when I asked when he would be there he said he didn't know, when I asked if the manager could be rung so we could get to the bottom of this his reply was that he wasn't going to ring him because this was his job.. I then asked for the managers number and he refused to give it to me, when I asked for a refund he pointed to a sellotaped piece of paper which read something along the lines of no refunds given.

My boyfriend and I left and booked a hotel accross the road called The Winchester they had one twin bedroom left which we gladly accepted the room was lovely the hotel warm an english fry up was served every morning and best of all after discovering there was no room in their luggage store they said they would find somewhere for our bags and that we could go and come back in the evening and their staff would have our bags in our rooms, this hotel was an extreme of the absolute dive of the belgrave and on principal I would refuse to ever stay there even though we lost our money for th three nights.