SLEEPING AROUND LONDON

photo and article by Carole Terwilliger Meyers

He who is tired of London is said to be tired of living.  But maybe he (or she) really only needs a good night's sleep.

"Shall I arrange for a tea tray to be sent up, then?"  inquired the London Langham Hilton's accommodating general manager upon my completion of the check-in process.  After eleven hours on an airplane and several more on the road, they were sweet words indeed, assuring me that I had selected yet another gem to add to my personal collection of London hotels.

I started "collecting" London hotels on my second visit, when I was more concerned about price than ambiance.  (On my first visit, during my post-college backpacking grand tour, I stayed free with a friend in the suburb of Hampstead, where my host's charming old flat overlooked the heath.  I've never been able to beat that price or ambiance.)  On this second time around, my husband and I, giddy with the prospect of leaving our two children behind with Grandma while we frolicked sans famille abroad, called the modest Ridgemont b&b two months ahead and made a reservation.  We lodged there in the Bloomsbury section of London for our entire five-night stay. 

Years later, on my third visit to London, Grandma and our 12-year-old daughter accompanied us.  This time we splurged and spent our first two nights at the elegant Langham Hilton (about which Grandma still raves:  "Now I know how the other half lives.") and the subsequent four nights back in now-familiar Bloomsbury at the Crescent Hotel--another budget-friendly spot.   (On that trip the exchange rate grew worse each day, and we literally gagged on prices.  It was so bad that we four actually found ourselves in Chinatown sharing two pot stickers by cutting them in half, refusing to accept reality and pay approximately $5 for two more.) 

My next visit was on a layover during a journey home from having personally delivered my now-teenage daughter to a family in Spain, where she was being hosted for a month.  My husband and I spent two nights in the upscale Stafford and two nights at the more modest Marlborough, the latter located in what has become our favorite section of town--Bloomsbury. 

Elaborating on this pattern, on my most recent foray into London, I actually stayed in four different hotels:  two over five nights upon arrival, then after returning from a tour into Scotland, two more hotels over two nights before departing for home. And I can now attest that though it is quite exciting to arrive in London twice on one trip, it is even more exciting to arrive four times.

In a city with thousands of hotels, it is presumptuous to say one is the best.  However, it is possible to say one is your personal favorite.  Or, like me, you can just keep adding new conquests to your own "collection."  Whether you prefer to return time and again to the familiarity of the same hotel, or whether you prefer always to try something new, I think you'll find a hotel in my collection that intrigues you. 

So, luvie, do print out this article and stick it on your 'fridge right now--you never know when you'll be going to London on your way to or from somewhere else.

THE LODGINGS

The Bloomsbury Group

Crescent Hotel 

Located on a crescent-shaped street across from the bucolic Cartwright Gardens, where tennis courts and a playground beckon, this aptly-named bed and breakfast is situated within a converted Georgian building dating from 1810.  Because it is an historic building, regulations forbid putting in a lift, so unless you luck out with a room on the ground floor, you do have to lug your suitcase up some narrow stairs.  It has private bathrooms as well as triple and quadruple rooms--important features that can be difficult for families to find abroad.  Bear in mind, though, that the bathrooms seem to be converted closets and are very, very small. 

It was here that I found myself across the breakfast table from my testy pre-teen and innocently commented, "You look really nice today.  Are you wearing make-up?"  She cuttingly replied, "No, I didn't bother.  There's no one here to impress."

On a lighter note, the lodging is situated just around the corner from a pub, and from a market where it is possible to purchase "picnic" supplies to enjoy in your room.  Several good, inexpensive restaurants are just one block away--The North Sea for great fish and chips and a proper Pimm's Cup cocktail, and the cozy Depa Tandoori Indian Restaurant for accomplished Indian cuisine.

The Thistle Bloomsbury (formerly The Kingsley Hotel)

Having just undergone refurbishment, this hotel, built in 1898, now has some rooms with delightful four-poster canopy beds.  My spacious room, decorated with wallpaper and chintzes in a lovely theme of pale yellow and English blue, sported a view of the ancient roof of The Parish Church of St. Georges Bloomsbury, located just next door and built in the early 1700s by a former pupil and assistant of Sir Christopher Wren.  One of my favorite amenities was the room's tea tray, stocked with Scottish chocolate chip shortbread and Cadbury's hot chocolate. 

Because Bloomsbury is an area famous for its attraction to writers, it is of interest that E.M. Forester once slept here in 1902.  In a prime location, the hotel is just a few blocks from The British Museum and Covent Garden.

The Marlborough

Featuring a rough-around-the-edges charm, this 169-room hotel is filled with floral carpets and fabrics. Though our room was tiny, it was cozy and comfortable. 

In the same area as The Kingsley, the hotel is adjacent to a pub, and inexpensive restaurants can be found on the block.  Though meals are served in the hotel restaurant, we preferred to breakfast inexpensively across the street at the friendly Bush & Fields Cafe.

Ridgemont Private Hotel

Situated across the street from where Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, a pioneer of women's suffrage, lived and died (in 1929) at #2 Gower, and from where the first anaesthetic was administered in England in 1846 at #52, this simple lodging has rooms with and without baths.  On my second trip to London, when my budget was weak but my bladder was still strong, we opted for the cheapest room in the house, sans bath.  It was pleasantly decorated, but fronted Gower Street, an unbelievable noisy thoroughfare that seemed to be at its noisiest around 6 a. m. Building restrictions forbid double-glazing the windows.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have requested a quieter room in the back.

The same proprietors run it now as did then.  My favorite memories are of watching them send their young uniformed children off to school as we downed the typical British morning fare of beans, eggs, and toast in their basement breakfast room.   In the communal TV room, I also participated in a lively conversation about serial killers with some native Brits who were in town to buy a wedding dress.

All Around the Town

47 Park Street

Decidedly upscale, this small--just 52 rooms, all of which are suites---Edwardian-style luxury hotel recently became part of the Westin collection. It is situated in the heart of Mayfair, just a few blocks from Hyde Park's Speaker's Corner and the shops on bustling Oxford Street.  My tastefully decorated, comfortably appointed room was blessedly quiet (the windows are triple glazed), and the elegant gray marble bathroom was hidden behind a false wardrobe door and filled with amenities--terry cloth slippers, emery boards, nail brushes, and Molton Brown aromatherapy essence for the bathtub.

One night my husband and I were relaxing here, drinking our complimentary carbonated Scottish spring water and watching the "box," as the British have fondly nick-named television.  (They also call it the "telly," but they can't call it the "tube" like we do, because the tube there is the underground, or what we call the subway here.)  Anyway, the room shook.  I couldn't believe it because I thought they didn't have earthquakes in London.  I called the desk, and a charming woman with a French accent giggled at my alarm, assuring me it couldn't be an earthquake, that they didn't have earthquakes in London.  She thought, perhaps, a big truck had passed on the narrow street in front of the hotel and the suction had caused some shaking.  Up on the fifth floor, I was relaxed by that explanation just enough to sleep.  Coincidentally, in the morning newspaper I read that a big earthquake is predicted for London as they haven't had one in 200 hundred years! 

Le Gavroche, one of London's most exclusive French restaurants, operates in the hotel's basement.   

Langham Hilton

Located in the West End, just a block from the upscale, curved shopping strip known as Regent Street and not far from Regents Park and the London Zoo, this hotel was established in 1865.  It was London's first grand hotel.  It was also the first hotel in town to have hot and cold running water in every bathroom, and the first hotel in the world to have hydraulic passenger lifts (or "ascending rooms," as elevators were once called here).  Featured in many Sherlock Holmes sagas, it was closed after a bomb attack during World War II.  Reopened in 1991, it has been restored to its original splendor.

An expansive breakfast is included and presented buffet-style in a magnificent room with its own name--Memories of the Empire.  Rooms are posh, pale, and thoroughly modern, with all-marble bathrooms.

The Stafford

Situated on the site that once held the home of Sir Christopher Wren, who is known for designing St. Paul's Cathedral, this tasteful small hotel (only 74 rooms) is located on a tranquil cul de sac in an exclusive residential section of town.  Understatedly elegant, it spoils guests with marble bathrooms featuring deep tubs equipped with full-size soaps and shampoos in Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet fragrance.  My favorite amenity was the soft, fluffy terry cloth slippers that greeted me on my pillow at turndown instead of a chocolate.  Embroidered with the hotel's name, they felt sublime on my tired feet, which were still throbbing from a long evening walk through the London streets.

The hotel's celebrated, cozy American Bar is decorated with an eclectic collection of ties, baseball caps, and other items that travelers have purposely left behind.  Its head barman, Charles, claims to have exported the first dry martini to the U.S.

Afternoon tea in the legendary Palm Court at the Ritz is just a block away, and shopping in Fortnum and Mason's and along sedate Jermyn Street is just a few blocks the other way.  Buckingham Palace, St. James's Park, and the National Gallery are also nearby. 

Whites Hotel

Overlooking the leafy Kensington Gardens section of Hyde Park in the Lancaster Gate area of town, this delightful small hotel (54 rooms) is set back from the bustle.  It was converted from several residences into a hotel in 1924.  My 5th floor room had a tiny window through which I could see the park, and a glorious bathroom where I was able to soak away my travel tensions before I started the long journey home from my most recent visit to London.  I slept that night on what could have passed for a cloud--one of the softest beds ever. 

Breakfast was taken in a cheery dining room, where a tireless businessman at the next table carried on in several languages from his cellular phone.  Another table held what looked to be two members of a rock band.  In the lobby, a crew was busy shooting a fashion layout. 

At check out, as I wondered out loud how we would get our suitcases across the busy thoroughfare in front of the hotel to the Airbus stop on the other side, an energetic elderly bellman quickly gathered up most of our bags and started walking, hustling them across five lanes to the stop.  Stunned, my husband and I picked up the light load that was left and followed.  And away we went.

PLAYING MY GAME:  CHANGING HOTELS

Booking a memorable lodging in London is quite easy and, if you're selective and/or lucky, affordable.  Here are a few guidelines:

• If you want to stay in a famous luxury hotel but you are also on a budget, reserve it for your first two nights only, switching to a lower priced lodging for your remaining nights.  Usually you arrive quite tired, and this allows you to take full advantage of relaxing in elegant surroundings.  A second night is also a good idea, or you most likely will succumb to that peculiarly American phenomenon of "if its Tuesday, it must be Belgium" and forget where you've been.  (Personally, I like to stay at least two nights in a hotel anywhere, whenever possible, so that I can "imprint" enough details in my maxed-out memory center to recall the experience later.)
• On the day you switch hotels, plan your itinerary so returning to your old hotel in the afternoon to pick up your suitcases is convenient.  I've never had any problem leaving my bags at the desk until late afternoon.
• When making reservations, ask about packages.  Oftentimes a budget-stretching special rate that includes the VAT and breakfast can be had even in the more expensive hotels.

For good rates from a hotel consolidator, call Hotels Plus at 800-235-0909, fax 800-644-0422.  All of their hotels include breakfast and VAT, and most have private baths.

Copyright 2005 Carole Terwilliger Meyers