18 Leinster Gardens, London W2 Tube Bayswater, Queensway Bus 12, 94, 148 Tel (020) 7262 3507
BUG Review
This hostel caters mostly to long-term guests on a working holiday in London. Accommodation consists of mostly small rooms with self-contained facilities. Although cheap, it's not such a good choice for travellers looking for somewhere to spend a few nights.
Price Dorm bed £8.50 per night, £60-75 per week Prices are in local currency and are inclusive of all taxes.
Uncomfortable bed, but otherwise fine, May 16, 2004
Reviewer:
stella3
Pros:
n/a
Cons:
n/a
Imported Review
saw things this way
Maintenance
(3)
Cleanliness
(3)
Facilities
(3)
Atmosphere
(3)
I stayed here for a couple of days this past April and it certainly wasn't as bad as some of these reviews say. It was very easy to get to from the tube, the staff was nice, and although the bathrooms were not in the best shape - they were still relatively clean. I was surprised that they didn't keep the front door locked at night, but everytime I came in (usually around 11:00 p.m.) there was someone keeping watch in the Lobby. Also, the breakfasts were really good - a nice big roll w/ jam and butter, plenty of cereal, and good coffee. I stayed in a single, private room and my only complaint is that the mattress was all springs. Otherwise this was a fine hostel to stay in for the price.
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(Review ID: 2277)
What?, August 1, 2003
Reviewer:
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Anonymous
saw things this way
Maintenance
(4)
Cleanliness
(4)
Facilities
(4)
Atmosphere
(4)
Well guys i don't know what you're talking about i'm living there now! And so far it's been fine; sure it's not Buck palace, but everything you need is there. As for food you're not allowed to keep it in your room because it attracts rats! London is full of rats in fact statisticly speaking you're never more than 10 feet/300cm away from one. The tube is full of them too as are the streets you'd have to be blind not to see one if you're staying in London for any amount of time. That's why you keep food in the kitchen!I've never seen a rat there, but i have seen plenty of toilet paper it rarely runs out, and if it does you go to reception and get some? Don't complain about darkness light a candle. They don't do refunds after a certain time period elapses, and this is made clear. As for the luggage room i kept a hi fi and a tv in there, and it didn't go missing, my ex roomie was a magician, and he kept allot of his tricks there (locked up in metal boxes). If you leave your stuff in there you are obviously taking a risk. Everyone has access to it, and there is a hugh sign saying it's not secure!As for the shower the one i use is separate has a bath mat to keep it relatively dry, and while being pretty crappy isn't too bad. The sheets are regulary washed either after you leave or onece a week if you're living there: they are cheap, but what do you expect? I've never seen a fire exit blocked either. The place would be shut down.The price is pretty good i find, a weekly rate is £11 a night. That's good espcially in Bayswater, and it includes brekkie! Add on to this the membership to Astors ITA, and the amount of bars open well after all the other places have shut, the fact that i've stayed there for two months in 2001, and am now back again, and the fact that my room mates have been there for over a year it can't be too bad can it? Perhaps you guys would be better off staying at the Ritz next time.
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(Review ID: 2278)
Great bar, but not so secure and nil privacy, January 26, 2003
Reviewer:
mr_dalvin@hotmail.com
Pros:
n/a
Cons:
n/a
Imported Review
saw things this way
Maintenance
(3)
Cleanliness
(3)
Facilities
(3)
Atmosphere
(3)
I would have to agree with judy from california. This place was not good. We stayed at the Victoria Astor, which is an affiliate with the Leinster, and was hoping it would be just as good. Unfortunately, you can find better for the price.We stayed in a mixed 4 bed dorm with a shower and to our surprise when we arrived in the room, there was a shower alright. A rectangular closet with a glass frosted door, that didn't lock or close completely, and had zero privacy. This really made my female companion very uncomfortable (hostel was booked up so couldn't switch rooms). While I was hanging around in the lobby, I overheard a conversation between the staff and some guests who had stored their things in the storage room. They had gone to retrieve their luggage and found that someone had opened up their bags and several other peoples stuff and stole things.The only good side to this place is that the breakfast ain't so bad, the bars good, there's a tv and pool table, and it's close to the Underground. Other than that, it's not worth your time.
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(Review ID: 2279)
DUMP! Dirty, Dishonest, utterly disgusting, October 15, 2002
Reviewer:
judy
Pros:
n/a
Cons:
n/a
Imported Review
saw things this way
Maintenance
(1)
Cleanliness
(1)
Facilities
(1)
Atmosphere
(1)
This place has SERIOUS problems. We arrived around 11pm at the hostel expecting to find our double room for 1st night, triple room 2nd and 3rd night. These were reserved, we had emails and confirmation numbers. Reception told me after I showed my paper work that there's been a mistake. OK, spit it out.. What is it. They didn't have double rooms and they didn't have triple rooms. They only had dorm rooms. I thought he meant our room was given away to someone else because we arrive too late, and it took us a few minutes of back and forth to clear up the misunderstanding, which was that the hostel does not EVER have double and triple rooms. He blamed it on the website, which is run by some other entity, and they don't update. So I asked so why didn't anyone at the hostel (which had my contact information) email me to let me know, he said it would've been too much work to email everybody. Hello folks! This should be a sign! This place does not go the extra mile/kilometer (or even lifts a finger) to accomadate you! They would rather you came all the way from wherever and it be too late for you to try to find other arrangements. He said something about tomorrow he will ask at their other place which is a hotel (not hostel) to see if we can have a double room there if we are not happy with dorm accomadations. I believe this is the place other people have reviewed and said was a dump as well. So fine, we will take the dorm room for one night. The guy says we will be in a room with 14 beds. Evidently he has trouble counting because I have photos that show our room with 18 beds. The bathroom in the hall had no toiletpaper. I don't mean that toilet paper ran out, I mean there wasn't a roll holder or anything indicating there had ever been toilet paper present. Everytime I flushed, about a half a cup of water came out of the tank (for those of you using metric system, half a cup is not a lot of water). The shower, if you want to call it that, had a door that did not close, did not lock. The door was bigger than the door opening. This was the cause of the puddle that was perpetually in front of the dorm room door. I do not believe the sheets were ever washed. Of course I cannot prove this, but they looked filthy and felt funky. I slept in my clothes as to avoid touching anything. In the morning, we woke up early to leave. This was the first time I was getting a good look at the room. Man, it's dumpy! Being curious about the rest of the place, I went to check out the other hallways. BEWARE Folks! The emergency fire exits were blocked!! We were on the first floor (ground floor), one exit was blocked by the dorm beds (in our room), other exit was blocked by stacks of unused mattresses. No lockers. Reception guy offered to safekeep my valuables, no thanks. We were leaving at about 8am. We head out to the reception, we see that the front door is wide open and no one behind the counter. Basically the building isn't all that secure. Oh, and to add insult to injury, they had rats (or some other pests). During the middle of the night some "thing" got into our swiss chocolate loot bag and chewed holes in our packages. DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE! If you're thinking to yourself "but the pictures on the internet look so nice", I can show you some real photographs, man. I don't know from where they stole those pics, but in real life I didn't see anything resembling what I thought I was signing up for from the internet. This place is out to make a buck off the unsuspecting tourist, is a total DUMP, and refused to refund us our money. Have fun in London, and be wise to stay away from this DUMP!
