Edward Lear Hotel - London, United Kingdom 

We two gents went for our first trip to London/UK from May 3-10 and booked the entire stay with Edward Lear. As a frame of reference, we do not, nor can we afford to stay at more costly hotels. What we seek is clean, cheap and convenient to the locations we want to explore. As an example, we have stayed at Hotel Harrington while in Washington DC. in September 07 Edward Lear is a small older hotel converted from a Victorian residence, and we were originally concerned because it is a five story walk-up (no elevators) The there is only one room in the category we booked..a single standard (shared bath) . It was a large room with two single beds separated by a nightstand. It's located on the first floor!...We weren't told this when we booked, but we were very pleased, because we had asked for a lower floor; (we're in our 50s and 60s and not into jaunting up 1 flight, let alone 5!) Serendipity! Ask for room number 3. It did have a sink in a closet. Other amenities in the room included a phone, very small TV which was a bit two far from the beds, though we didn't watch much anyway. There were no chairs - given the size of the room, at least one would have been good, and two would have fit. There was a small stand with an electric coffee/tea pot well stocked with tea, coffee, sugar and creamers. There was a small closet which held what we had brought easily. The window in the room offered no view - just light in the day..and looked out over the basement kitchen glass ceiling...and thats about it. The shared bath was right down the hall...only two other rooms on that floor...and during the whole time i only ran into one fellow bather who got to me just ahead. It's small, with a shower...towels seemed to pile up during the day on the floor as there was no place to deposit a dirty one. The three rooms share the floor with the front desk, computer room, ( which gets busy in the morning and evening..plan to wait if you didnt bring a lap top) I was amazed at how quiet the hotel seemed. We got good nights rest, every night of our stay, and only once heard someone come in late. Housekeeping was done every day while we were out with no issues at all. Everything was refreshed, replenished, and straightened. Staff was congenial and helpful when we needed information. The breakfast is huge...nicely presented, and well cooked. As an American, the tomatoes and beans threw me off, but i got right into them, and by the end, ate the whole thing!...There are only 6 tables (four tops) in the dining room, which is smallish, and served by a dumb waiter from the basement kitchen. We got started early each day..weekdays it opened at 7 30 and weekends 8 am. Table is set with LARGE trivets upon which your plate is set..sort of balanced...I thought that was funny..also, more silverware than is needed...an extra knife - for butter and jam, etc..but crowded the table. There is also a selection of juices, milk, cereals, etc. Locationally, we couldn't have asked for better..great shopping is very near by..Selfridge's right around the corner..don't miss it - you can walk. Hyde park and Marble arch tube is a block away. There is a movie house around the corner as well....an Odeon we were shocked that we were asked to select seats based on price, and proximity..take the cheap seats...the theaters are small. Gay gents - the Quebec bar, London's oldest , since 1946, is in the next block...(and some of the original client?le were there the two nights we stopped in). For Americans, we paid the equivalent of 7dollars for a large coke, and 6 for an equal size beer..go figure. Take the tube to Leicester Square, check out the cheap theater ticks (go to the official booth which is a stand alone building in the square, not around the perimeter) We saw Spamalot and had a great time. From Leicester, walk over to Soho for lots of other bars...and drinking in the street...everywhere in London, pubs spilled out with people drinking in the street. Try the Geisha Bar for upscale decor, and very quiet. next door is a more typical bar catering to all kinds of gents. We didn't venture further - we could have all night..bars are open apparently 24 hours. We purchased a London Pass...we feel we did well with saving on some of the attractions. Check it out...and take the transportation option - you will save even more. Practically speaking, we were able to do about 3 major things a day on it, by hustling. Also we did some driving..we took the tube back out to Heathrow, got off at Hatton Cross Station and walked across the street behind sixT and picked up a rental car at Car1Hire or something like that, which we had prearrange...we drove to Knowle, Sissinghurst, and to Bath over two days and then back into London...we retained our hotel room during our absence. Re Heathrow, we flew US Air - into Heathrow Terminal One and were through customs in 10 - TEN - minutes. I could write a book..first time was a great time and would love to go back..and would stay at Edward Lear again, as well. Sorry i don't have photos to share..what was I thinking..I didn't take any at all of the hotel..:(

Very friendly staff, although hotel as a whole needs updating badly, saying that the rooms are very clean and mine actually nothing like the picture but quite modern...BUT the single is very, very small, infact the smallest I have ever seen (we are talking 5 foot wide by about 8 foot - and that really is it), the rest of the hotels available floor space is used as a dumping ground, one of the toilets is stocked up with tins of paint and rolls of material and boxes so you cant actually get in to it, the internet room too has all the leather chairs (that you can see in the pictures) stacked up in the corner so you cant sit on them and boxes in there stacked up too. Don't get me wrong they are lovely friendly people and the breakfast is one of the best I have had. BUT be very aware that if you get the hotel to ring a taxi, they infact ring a company who will charge you the EARTH to drop you off where you are going and and who don't actually have a meter and after pointing this out to them they admitted they are not a real taxi company and hence not insured and it is a little scam that the hotel have going and we would need to take it up with the hotel. Just bear in mind the day before this we flagged down a black cab outside the hotel who took us the same journey for ?5.60. This 'TAXI' that the hotel 'organised' for us charged us ?12 for exactly the same journey which we discovered is a 15 min walk away this is why I was concerned. DO NOT USE THE HOTEL TO BOOK A TAXI FOR YOU!!! FLAG DOWN A BLACK CAB OUTSIDE. We mentioned this to the hotel when we go back and they admitted they are just a company that the management tell them to use !!!But they will mention our concerns to the managers. Very worrying stuff!!!