London's hotels are among the world's most expensive, and as such they don't always offer the best value for money, particularly if you are committed to staying slap-bang in the centre of the city. But the capital is also a city of neighbourhoods, with attractions and points of interest everywhere you look, and these often make an equally good base for seeing the best of London. By staying outside the centre you'll experience a different side to the capital. You'll also save money and the chances are you'll enjoy the city much more. London has a well integrated public transport network, making it easy to get around so there's no need to miss out on the big sights and whizz-bang energy of the West End – plus you can spend all the cash you've saved on fancy dinners and a taxi or two!
At the funkier end of Bermondsey Street, right on Tower Bridge Road, this cool, contemporary apartment-hotel epitomises the ‘Locke Living’ group’s vision of providing cool, affordable urban accommodation for those who often want to stay a bit longer, and offering all the amenities you need to do so – including kitchen facilities, discounts for stays of a week or more, even a lobby that doubles as a co-working space. As for food, the Shaman coffee bar serves drinks and snacks during the day and turns into a regular bar in the evening, with DJs on weekends, and Robin Gill’s Bermondsey Larder serves as the hotel’s in-house restaurant, offering a self-consciously farm-to-fork menu that changes regularly and takes in everything from monkfish ceviche to steak and chips.
The sleek rooms at this contemporary boutique hotel – fashioned out of Bromley's old Town Hall – offer one of London's coolest and most affordable places to stay. Its 23 guest rooms range from Shoebox and Snug to Spacious, Studio and Suite, but even the smallest are a decent size, and they're all stylishly decorated with a sleek mid-century minimalism and lots of thoughtful touches, including excellent WiFi, Smart TVs, tea- and coffee-making facilities, bottles of filtered water, biscuits, good-quality hairdryers, steamers for clothes, and air- and regular USB chargers. Even the smallest rooms have king-size beds, while others have super-kings; mattresses are Hypnos and super-comfortable. Plus there's a good bar and restaurant in the building, converted from the town hall's old court room.
If you want to stay in a posh part of town, you can't do much better than Barnes, a green and leafy riverside neighbourhood that's close enough to the centre to be convenient but at the same time feels like an peaceful reprieve from London's non-stop energy. It's the ideal place to pretend you're a local for a few days, enjoying the best of London while exploring one of the city's most enjoyable residential neighbourhoods, and The Bridge provides somewhere you can do just that – a stylish pub and hotel with just eight unique and contemporary rooms that make a perfect base for the capital.
The City of London Club is quite unlike anywhere else to stay in the capital. It's first and foremost a private members' club, with with a grand entrance hall a suitably sweeping staircase and any number of cosy bars and lounges and private dining rooms. Unusually, it's also home to some rather swanky – and very contemporary – guest rooms that anyone can stay in on a visit to London: just the ticket if you're looking for comfort and elegance in a location that's outside the West End but still central and at an affordable price. The rooms have all been thoughtfully designed and furnished and are very comfortable and well equipped with large Hypnos beds, high-quality bed linen, desks, WiFi, air-conditioning, tea- and coffee-making facilities, minibars, Smart TVs and en-suite bathrooms complete with toiletries and robes. It's a short stroll from your room to the sleek haven of Churchill's Bar, with its own rooftop terrace, where you can enjoy a cocktail before descending to dinner in the Club's fancy members' restaurant.
This Southwark hotel is maybe the coolest place to stay south of the river that you'll find. It's in a great neighbourhood, two minutes' from the river and the Thames path which you can take in one direction to nearby Tate Modern, the Globe and Borough Market and in the other to the South Bank and Westminster. Rooms vary in size but all come equipped with air-conditioning, tea and coffee, digital radios, fridges with fresh milk and water and flatscreen TVs with Freeview – and even the smallest rooms have high ceilings and decent-sized bathrooms. The ground floor lobby is a deliberately sociable space, and the hotel offers a good range of food and drink options, from the the relaxed all-day dining of Albie’s to the rightly popular Seabird restaurant on the 11th floor, which specialises in Mediterranean seafood and has one of the best views in London from its large terrace.
Situated among the well-heeled, leafy streets of Camden Town, the location of this 'boutique guesthouse' can hardly be bettered if you want to maintain a bit of a distance between yourself and the mayhem of the West End – which lies on the other side of Regents Park and the Zoo from here. Not only that, its comfortable and versatile accommodation makes it a perfect and very desirable spot to go back to at the end of the day – at what are, by London standards, moderate nightly rates. It's 60-odd studios all have all en-suite shower rooms, digital radios and Smart TVs, fast WiFi, and kitchen facilities that include a hob and microwave, fridge, along with coffee and tea, water, milk and other essentials, so you can also self-cater if you wish. There's a communal vibe that is both deliberate and infectious and they also lay out a nice breakfast each morning so you don't entirely have to fend for yourself!
Those of a certain age might recognise the row of worker's cottage butting up next to this North Greenwich pub. They featured in Blur's video for Parklife back in 1994, and look much the same now as they did then – though the area around has changed beyond recognition, with a nearby tube station, the O2 and thousands of luxury flats jostling for a view of the river. The Pilot has changed too, from what was a tremendous neighbourhood pub to an even better city inn that serves good food and has some cosy boutique rooms upstairs for those looking for an alternative to the nearby Holiday Inn. A lovely Georgian building, it's a homely sort of place, with 10 contemporary and well-appointed rooms, equipped with comfy cast-iron beds, high quality bed linens, Freeview TVs and en-suite bathrooms, WiFi and tea- and coffee-making facilities. You're a two-minute walk from the riverside path and a five-minute walk from the cable car (the 'Emirates Airline', worth a trip for the views alone), and river bus services and the tube into central London.
Right in the heart of buzzy Clerkenwell, The Rookery sits at the heart of London's creative industries, with a choice of bars and restaurants that tends to go with such neighbourhoods. The hotel is a conversion of three Georgian terraced houses which have served many different purposes over the years. Today the ground-floor areas are full of character, with fine antique furniture and wood-panelling lending a cosy feel to its comfy lounges. The intimate atmosphere continues in the guest rooms, which are spread over three floors, decorated in the same homely, slightly theatrical style of the public areas, with gilded mirrors, baroque furniture, heavy, gathered curtains, piles of books, oil paintings and the odd bust creating an authentic stately home atmosphere that's quite at odds with the busy streets outside. Some rooms have four-posters, others roll-top baths, and they all come with good WiFi, minibars and other modern amenities. As for the location, it's handy for both The City and the West End, both easily reached on the super-quick Elizabeth Line.
The latest version of this former trad south London boozer is a return to its roots as a coaching inn, and a great location for a comfy London city crash pad, just a tube stop away from central London and walking distance from the river and Westminster. Downstairs is a busy pub, which serves good food at lunch and dinner, and great weekend breakfasts, while upstairs are six tastefully appointed double rooms on two floors – reasonable sizes and decorated in pastel shades with stripped-down, whitewashed walls and kitted out with big comfortable beds, Nespresso machines, Smart TVs and a do-it-yourself breakfast kit in the fridge featuring porridge, juice, etc. Two rooms have baths, and all have decent-sized open, contemporary bathrooms with big power showers. A characterful alternative to local chain hotels or crummy B&Bs.
