Thistle City Barbican, London

...I saw an offer for Thistle City Barbican on Travelzoo and phoned reservations quoting the code MMM23. The offer was for a Double Deluxe room with breakfast for £79. I was hoping that they would have a family room under this offer too so I asked the very helpful Wendy who checked for me and, although there wasn't one available, she told me that they would put a Z-bed in the room for us. All was well so far.
The Thistle website says that there ...
...there and we found that the easiest was Old Street on the Northern line which is about a 10 minute walk away. The area in which the hotel is situated looks a little ragged but we felt quite safe. The room was almost identical to the website picture (the red room) apart from the sofa-bed being against the window wall and there was a large LCD TV (with loads of channels available) and not a CRT. The sofa-bed was already made up as a bed when we got ... more

I stayed here in mid August 2008 for one night. I needed a cheap room at short notice which could accommodate my wife, daughter and me and finding a match for this criteria in London wasn't an easy task! After checking for Travelodges without success I saw an offer for Thistle City Barbican on Travelzoo and phoned reservations quoting the code MMM23. The offer was for a Double Deluxe room with breakfast for £79. I was hoping that they would have a family room under this offer too so I asked the very helpful Wendy who checked for me and, although there wasn't one available, she told me that they would put a Z-bed in the room for us. All was well so far.
The Thistle website says that there are three tube stations which can be used to get there and we found that the easiest was Old Street on the Northern line which is about a 10 minute walk away. The area in which the hotel is situated looks a little ragged but we felt quite safe. The room was almost identical to the website picture (the red room) apart from the sofa-bed being against the window wall and there was a large LCD TV (with loads of channels available) and not a CRT. The sofa-bed was already made up as a bed when we got there and the room was air conditioned but the unit was a little noisy. The bathroom was clean and stocked with plenty of towels and a few complimentary toiletries i.e. soap, shower gel and shampoo.
Reception and concierge staff were very helpful although the advertised shuttle bus to the tube stations was not available. We had to leave early the next morning before breakfast (served from 6.30am) so we asked for a takeaway breakfast which was provided but consisted of a small bottle of orange juice (mixer size which wasn't re-sealable), two croissants and two apples. I suppose we were lucky to get this though and it wasn't their fault that we had to leave early. The general standard of the hotel was very good indeed and the spa/swimming pool area looked very luxurious but unfortunately due to the brevity of our stay we couldn't indulge in these facilities. I did notice a poster with code MMM19 for £59 per night but don't know what T & C applied but it may be worth a go.
Generally I was quite impressed and will consider it as an option in the future. 

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