LSE Bankside House

I stayed with a large group at Bankside House during the Thames Festival weekend,

this must have been one of Bankside's busiest weekends, the accommodation was a sell out. Some of us arrived early and knowing we could not access our rooms before 3 pm, the staff were very obliging and allowed us to leave our bags in the store room. When we did check in, we were dealt with quickly and efficiently.

Our room was facing the rear of the building onto modern office blocks, it was basic, very clean, with towels, ensuite, tea and coffee making facilities. One of our group members stayed in a front facing room with views over looking St Paul's. The breakfast was certainly a full monty, you could choose from a belly bursting english or continental, vegetarians were also catered for.

We came and whent from our rooms at all hours of the day and night, our room was quiet even with the windows open. The staff were top drawer, nothing was too much trouble and each room was refreshed daily. As for the guys serving in the bar, well chin, chin for keeping up with us! Hey come on folks, for £30 pp night for a single room and £28 pp night twin room including breakfast, during peak season London, this has to be a bargain!

Bankside is approx ten minute walk from the underground at Southwark and right next door to some stylish eateries. Within a minutes walk we were soaking up the ambience of the Tate Modern and the fesitval's vibrant atmosphere, which stretched the south bank from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge. Westminster Palace, the London Eye, The National Theatre, St Pauls, The Globe Theatre, HMS Belfast and other historical finds are all within easy walking distance. Many more famous attractions and places to visit are also easily accessable either by foot, river boat or by tube.

For food luvers and shop-a-holics don't miss the Borough Market, the OXO building and More London - all have an eclectic mix of restaurants/bars, arts and crafts plus free street entertainment along the way!

What more could you ask for from this fantabulous budget B&B location!!!

I struggle to find where to begin. I'll start by saying a little about the purpose of my trip/trips to London this summer and you will get a better idea.

I am studying law and intend to study at the bar. Thus I was doing several mini-pupillages this summer. A mini-pupil is an intern barrister for those of you who don't know that. I've stayed in the Travel Lodge Islington once and the Travellodge Kingston Central Twice (I liked it so much I went back the second time even though I was working in the center). I have nothing but the best to say about the Travellodges and London. This time since I was down for two weeks in a row I decided to get a cheaper/better value for money accommodation and I came upon Bankside House. Now I wish I hadn't.

I arrived late at night to be greeted by some sleepy students who took ages to check me in. Finally, after trying to haul my huge case (I carry alot of legal materials when I'm working) through the swivel door I went up to my room, with the rather industrious looking key in hand, and opened the door. I was greeted by a dark room with three doors, one I later would learn to be the bathroom. I finally got into my box... sorry.... room.

Lets go through the room itself.

There is a bed, a single bed, which had a matress so worn out and soft my back started to hurt after the first night. You get one pillow, that is I am assuming there was something inside the pillowcase; however, I may have been wrong. There is no headboard. Don't bother trying to read and don't move about, which I did, try to read, and hit my head. So every morning I woke up with a crippled back and a concussion.

There is a desk and some shelves. There is a chest of drawers; however, the middle one was broken and because of that the bottom one didn’t open. There is also a huge wardrobe with three hangers. One curtain was short, shorter than the other curtain, therefore I couldn’t make the room dark enough to sleep in.

Then there was the bathroom. It was small, grotty, dirty and a very unpleasant place to be. The shower itself was coming away from the wall. When turned on it took a while to even get wet there was so little water. It only had two temperatures boiling and cold. Any pinpoint of tepid was disrupted by the slightest movement which caused the handle to move slightly turning it boiling again. I’m Kate Moss thin. What would a fat person do?

There is no TV or internet access, even wireless, so there is absolutely no entertainment whatsoever. I actually spent more money, going out to wireless enabled bars, than it would have cost for a Travellodge being that you can’t spend any time in the cell...sorry....room whatsoever.

If you want to use the internet it is £2 per half hour at reception.

The residents of the hotel appear to be foreign students, not interns, but groups of rowdy horny teenagers who party all night. They have a trick of some of them standing outside shouting up several floors in conversation with people in the rooms.

Some of the staff were okay. Most of them were obnoxious, arrogant and rude. At one point I informed the receptionist that if he ever considered speaking to me like that again he would loose his front teeth. Most of the vending machines and other pay per use facilities were broken, however, still swallowed the money entered into them.

You have to carry identification to get in, instead of some credit card sized item, you get this huge card thing that will not fit in a wallet or a jacket pocket.

The whole place feels tired, dirty and pathetic. If you think the price is too good to be true, let me assure you, it is.

To summarise this place is a kennel. Not a b and b or a hotel but a place where you would keep animals. Qualify that...a place where you would send animals you don’t really care about. It is not a place you could spend any time. The facilities are sub standard. The place is totally unsuitable for guests.

I will never ever go there again. And I would urge you, if you like yourself, to avoid this place like the plague. I have stayed in better mud huts in the middle of deserts.

Plus there is, apart from the Tate Gallery, absolutley nothing near it.

Location: Fantastic! Right behind the Tate Modern. It's a quiet, upscale, safe area and you are 5 min. from the millenium bridge. For evening walks along the Thames, this place cannot be beat!

Building: It's fine from the outside. The reception area is bare and basic. On the right, there is a very worn brown leather couch to sit on and two computers where you pay 2£ per hour to use. On the left is a very basic long counter and 1-2 worn out staff trying to patiently (and in English) do a quick check-in. When groups come in, there will definitely be a long wait.

Check-in: We pre-paid our rooms so check-in went quite fast. We got an "id" card to use whenever we left the building or got our breakfast. We also received just ONE key for our room. The key is deposited at the front desk before leaving and then handed back to you upon showing your "id".

Lift and Corridors: There are about 6 large lifts to use. The corridors have stained blue carpets, some doors have chipped paint and everything seems run-down.

Room: We had a large room facing a few rows of nice flats. It was very quiet. There's a dirty window (all the windows are dirty) that you can crack open. No a/c. The room is very bare but has enough drawers and closet space to put away your things. There is a large desk and two chairs. The single beds are OK. The carpet is stained but the room didn't smell. Except for the carpet stains, the room was clean. There is no mirror, phone or pictures or safe in the room. No TV or radio. There is plugs. Two sets of towels were laid out on the bed. The towels are changed every two days. The beds are made daily. The bathroom is small, the shower was a bit grotty but otherwise clean and had a shower door. The bathroom mirror is very highly placed. There's one sink. The toilet made a funny noise after every flush so we complained to the front desk and the toilet was fixed the next day.

Noise level: It depends on your neighbours. There are signs asking guests to be quiet between 11 pm and 8 am. I found this to be basically followed. Our room was thankfully at the end of a corridor. You'll hear people walking past your door if they are loud. Sometimes you'll hear a toilet flush or a shower run somewhere in the building but otherwise I'd say, all things considered, it was quiet inside and outside the building. If your room is facing the entry, you might hear people outside at night or in the morning.

Breakfast: Very good. It's cafeteria style and you get a choice of six items. There are meats, sausages, 3 kinds of yogurt, scrambled eggs, pancakes, waffles, fresh fruit, tomatoes, toast and croissants to choose from. Outside of the serving area, you can get as much cereal, coffee, tea, milk and juice as you want. There's a TV in the eating area so you can find out what's been going on in the world.

Nearest metro stations: Southwark (10-15 min. walk) is a bit closer than London Bridge. The path between London Bridge and Bankside has lots of cobble stones so it wasn't too handy to pull a suitcase on. However, if you take the Southwark road, it's a bit longer but easier on the suitcases. Since we took the train from Gatwick to London Bridge, we didn't need use the metro for the first two days. The second day we used the Original Bus Tours to get around.

Guests: I'd say it was 60% teenager groups and 40% adults while we were there.

Housekeeping: I wish they would clean all the windows inside and out more. Also do a bit more cleaning around the reception area and lifts, especially during this swine flu epidemic. I didn't hear any rumours about swine flu in the building but I did have the need to sanitize my hands after pushing the doors and lift buttons throughout the building.

The Bar: There's a bar in the building somewhere by the name of Beaver Belching bar. We never went to look for it.

I would return to Bankside House only after a very urgently needed refurbishment. Because everything looks run-down, it just didn't feel that clean.

Rating: Location-1 star; Breakfast-1 star; Price-1 star = 3 stars