If a hotel in London is cheap, there is usually a reason
I don’t know about crappy, but definitely a bit shonky.

A few years back, me and the ex decided on a break to That There London. Having done a bit of interweb wizzardry, we identified what seemed like a reasonable hotel, not too far from Paddington Station. About £40 a night, bed and breakfast. “We’ll ‘ave that”, says us, and duly book up.

Hmm. £40 a night. For a hotel in the big smoke. Now that I think about it…

I’m sure that most of the rooms were fine, it’s just that ours was a bit small. Huge double bed, which to get round you had to flatten yourself against the wall and shuffle like a cartoon jail breaker. One tiny wardrobe that an outfit change for Barbie and Ken would have rendered full. A bathroom that was nothing more than a pre-fabricated plastic shell bolted into one corner of the room, with a slight gradient to one corner that allowed the shower water to drain away.

Worst part though was that the room was actually in the basement, so we had no natural light. On top of that, the hotel was situated directly above the Circle & District lines, so the room shook about every two minutes while the trains were running. Sleep was achieved between the hours of 2 and 5am. Sightseeing was achieved through an incredible act of will and lots of coffee.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 17 Jan 2008, 17:45, Reply)