Novotel London Tower Bridge, London

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	clean comfortable
Disadvantages:	see review

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My son has just turned 20, and despite being taken for his twin on occasions I have to admit I am getting older and simply can no longer do the things I once took for granted. This includes travelling, once upon a time I’d happily travel about 200 miles a week to and from work (well okay not happily).

So when my son suggested going to London for a break I would have normally snapped up the idea, but we had just got back (literally) from a break in Brussels and I was still recovering from that travel – so my mind had to think, a minute later I’d made a decision – YES. So I scoured the internet for what seemed the best deal and came across Novotel (We’d stayed with them in Brussels). There web site claimed to offer a ‘special internet’ deal of £69 per room per night. This didn’t however include breakfast which was charged extra. I booked thinking we could have breakfast outside the hotel if they charged too much.

Arriving in Pepys street London EC3, the first thing that was noticeable was the position of the hotel. It sat quietly in a back street, just around the corner from the tower of London.

Walk into the hotel and you are hit by the brightness and cleanliness of the hotel lobby. The whole place shines and sparkles, and with a cleaner wiping the windows and tidying up any mess left behind guest’s, that’s the way it will surely remain?

We arrived at the hotel at about 11.30am and were shocked when we were told we could book in (usual time is mid day). We had rooms next door to each other, on the first floor.

Entering the room we found it to be a little on the dark side, whether this was due to location or weather I’m not fully sure, but the room had several lights which remedied the situation.

Sitting on the side was tea and coffee making facilities, oh how that made me happy! Under the TV was a mini bar, which had a good stock in-though we never used anything, from there. The view from the window was limited to the buildings on the opposite side of the road – which you could have rented one of from just £275 per week!

The bathroom was again spotless and had the usual toiletries and towels etc. The toilet is separate and very very small, in fact I had a little difficulty in getting in the toilet; so larger people may have problems with that aspect. There was also a shower over the bath which was detachable, enabling you to wash your hair only if that’s what you wished.

The hotel has some 203 bedrooms all of good size, and most if not all accommodate a double bed or twin beds AND a sofa bed, allowing two adults and two children per room.

The hotel also has 1 bar and 1 restaurant which are both open to non-residents and can be busy.

Our Friday evening was spent having a meal in the bar with drinks before trotting out for a walk. Bar prices are typical of a London hotel. Food wise I felt was limited for people who didn’t like anything too ‘not English’. So I opted for fish and chips at a price of £8.95, it came with salad and lemon mayo, and was delicious, but for that price what should you expect?

Next night we met friends and again chose to eat at the hotel, where this time I chose the salmon fishcake and chips (I’m quite adventurous food wise as you can tell). The fishcake was again very tasteful and came with the trimmings, this time I saved myself £2 on my previous meal.

There are local shops in the form of Leaden hall market place which unfortunately isn’t open weekends. Benjy’s is just around the corner from the hotel but again wasn’t open when we passed it.

We seemed to walk for quite a while to get to anywhere that was open, though we found our way to St Paul’s cathedral and across the millennium bridge to the other side of the water.

Disabled access; Disabled access to the hotel is okay though far from good, you may find the rotating doors may a little too fast, so my advice is to use either of the side doors. The lifts are big enough to accommodate a wheelchair, and the rooms have enough space for storage of a wheelchair, though moving around and using the toilet would be impossible, however the hotel may well have specially adapted rooms – I’m not fully sure. I just let the hotel know I was partially in a wheelchair.

Access to the bar and restaurant is okay, though going through the bar may be difficult especially if it's busy, so use the restaurant entrance.

Overall: generally speaking I would recommend the hotel, particularly if you are able bodied. The hotel is spotlessly clean, offers good hot food, and is very comfortable. Rates for the hotel vary we got an internet offer at £69 PER ROOM per night (no breakfast), though if you walked in off the street the advertised price was £180 per room per night. Breakfast in the hotel is £12.95 for full English or £9.95 for continental in your room. I particuarly like the fact the charges are PER ROOM, andnot per person. Each room can sleep two adults and two children (under 12).

Thanks for reading-Dave

http://www.novotel.com/novotel/index.html