The Chamberlain Hotel

The hotel was a bit worn down and had a small elevator. Watch them for unwanted or extra charges. The rooms are clean and not too small. It is close to the Tower of London and the Aldgate tube stops.

It is an acceptable hotel. The rooms were clean. Easy walking distance to the tower of London. There was no parking onsite, but some parking lots not too far away (1/3 mile). The staff was not all that friendly, though, souring the stay.

As you can see from the title, I was mostly excited about this hotel because it is owned by a London brewery (Fuller's) and had an attached pub. Not to mention I booked what I thought was a pretty good rate for a good hotel 135 pounds a night (a hotel in my home town costs more than that!) on the hotel website. The location is excellent, it is right off the Tower Hill tube stop and that tube station has only a small number of steps to drag your suitcase up.

The hotel has a lift. The twin room we were given was fantastic. Messages from the hotel staff (who are all very good) appear on your TV. The bathroom was huge, with shower AND bath. Oh yeah, TV next to the bathtub. Big shower. Bath robes in the closet and a very nice turndown service that leaves bath slippers. If I had used a bath towel during the day and after the room had been made up, the turn down service would replace it with a fresh towel.

The air conditioning was wonderful. I have stayed in London hotels with none. But in July and August it's essential to have it. And this one was always nice and cool. In fact, a bit chilly first thing in the morning. Good thing you have the robes!

Breakfast did not come with our booking so I only went to the pub for dinner and drinks. The pub had six different cask ales on offer. Which far exceeded my expectations. The menu was reasonably priced - for London. The food, which was quite good, was always delivered in a timely manner. The waitstaff that I interacted with was made up entirely of non-Brits, but all spoke English well and had minimal problems with my American accent. In fact, I found them to be especially curious about the US and we spoke often about traveling in the US. Perhaps that's why over the course of the week I found the service to be very good. But for me it was.

My only complaint is the noise level. We had a first floor room (second floor if you are an American). I could hear and feel the subway train and hear some of the road traffic as well. From my room I could hear the water pipes from the nearby rooms whistle when someone was showering. I am a light sleeper, but this noise didn't appear to upset my sleep patterns all that much after the initial recognition that it was there.