London Hotels?

[nat]

Does anyone have any ideas on good cheap hotels in London, England. Thanks

 

[Flywrite]

Take the train from either LHR or LGW to Victoria Station. A ten minute walk from Victoria you will find Warwick Way, a street of old Victorian homes converted to hotels. Most places in this area go for about $80-100/night, perhaps cheaper this time of year if you haggle a little.

For that you get a tiny, but clean room with an even tinier bathroom. You will get breakfast, and the area is very central and convenient for both sightseeing and getting back to the airport.

I'm from England originally and used to non-rev over to London 3-5 times a year for short stays. PM me if you want some more tips.

 

[FL000]

If you can stay near Victoria Station for 80 USD, I'd do that. It's more central that where I stayed and about the same price (50 GBP). However, my hotel was clean, modern and located in a nice and safe area within steps of Paddington station. There seemed to be some cool little pubs and shops around there, but nothing like the action taking place near Victoria. London is not cheap by any means. 50 GBP will be about the best you can do for any room/hotel that will be acceptable to you. After you get off the train at Victoria, look for a travel kiosk where they can help you book a last minute room at a very good price. If you're interested in taking a peek, I stayed at the Hyde Hotel near Paddington (click here).

EDIT: I hate to be Chicken Little, but just saw this on Drudge:

Bleak warning to Londoners
By David Taylor, Charles Reiss and Justin Davenport, Evening Standard
12 February 2003
London faces an immediate terrorist threat on the scale of 11 September, the Government said today.

The bleak view that the threat to the capital is on the scale of the attacks on New York and Washington came from Labour Party chairman John Reid.

Asked if the deployment of troops at Heathrow was an over-the-top reaction as a war against Iraq looms, Dr Reid angrily replied: "This is not a game. This is about a threat of the nature that massacred thousands of people in New York. I am not even going to take seriously those people who suggest this is part of some sort of game."

The stunning assessment came as it was confirmed that a total shutdown of Heathrow Airport has been seriously considered by ministers under the current threat of a terror attack. They decided not to take the ultimate step only because of the "catastrophic" impact on Britain's links with the world - and because it would have been a surrender to terrorism.

Other key details to emerge today are that:

* Police have mounted the biggest security operation ever seen, involving 1,500 of their officers and soldiers in a "pan-London operation" to protect targets in the capital;

* Secret government papers show "it is a certainty" that there are still groups and individuals at large in Britain who pose a " present and real" terrorist threat to public safety at home and abroad.

As armed police and the Army maintained a ring of steel around Heathrow today, Home Secretary David Blunkett made clear that the closure of the world's busiest international airport had been seriously contemplated amid fears that terrorists may try to shoot a jumbo jet out of the skies using a surface-to-air missile.

Mr Blunkett confirmed that he had considered shutting Heathrow. But he said: "For those who are threatening us it would have been a victory. Trade would have suffered and the transport of people would have been disrupted - this would have been a catastrophic thing to have done."

The choice itself suggests that the Government has been forced to take a massive but calculated risk in the decision to send in the Army instead, complete with armoured vehicles and extra police to beef-up security.

In clear confirmation of the fears of a missile attack on an incoming or outgoing flight, Mr Blunkett said that measures were now in place to watch passengers and protect aircraft, "particularly in terms of aircraft landing". The Home Secretary continued: "We hope we can get through the next few days without an incident. I hope we can."

Details of the thinking behind the high-profile defences came as it emerged today that a genuinely independent assessment of secret Government papers shows a real and present threat. Lord Carlile QC, the leading barrister appointed by the Government to examine the fairness of the new emergency terrorism laws brought in after 11 September, has been given access to "closed" information, based on covert surveillance on suspects as well as information from intelligence sources.

And in the first informed and independent assessment of the evidence held by Government about possible terrorist cells at work in the UK, he makes absolutely clear that there are both foreigners and UK citizens plotting terrorism.

Lord Carlile says: "From the material I have seen, it is a certainty that there remain in the UK individuals and groups who pose a present and real threat to the safety of the public here and abroad."

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard is engaged in the biggest security operation it has ever mounted, the head of the force said today. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens said large numbers of police officers from London and neighbouring forces were deployed around Heathrow to combat the threat of a terrorist strike. The Yard has not ruled out asking for troops to patrol parts of central London.

The Cabinet Office war committee codenamed Cobra is holding daily meetings to discuss what police sources say is a very real threat. Sir John said: "We are involved in a pan-London operation. This is the largest operation of its kind that we have ever been involved in. We are assessing it on a daily basis.

"We are asking people not to panic, not to get alarmed but to be alert. There are very good reasons for doing what we are doing. Some people are saying that this looks like a propaganda war and is connected with the approach of an Iraqi war, but I can tell you that is absolutely not the case.

"This operation is a direct result of briefings by security services and ourselves."

from The Evening Standard