YHA London Central

I stayed here for 5 nights. The location is pretty good. It's on Bolsover street and about a 1/4 mile south of the Great Portland Street Exit. It's really clean, security is pretty good, and there's a hangout room downstairs in the lobby. Although the internet is pricy, the wifi is free if you take your own laptop. There is also one large plasma and two smaller ones for you to watch tv while you're relaxing after exploring London all day.

This place really is everything it promises on the tin, I kid you not. It's very fancy, vibrant colours, very active and also very secure. The lobby is huge, done up with colourful posters on the wall with different Tube station signs and such, the reception/staff are very prompt and helpful (they have to be given it's always crowded), the kitchens are clean, the dining area is amazing (see pictures below), great bathrooms, and BEST OF ALL - the kitchen is open 24x7. So I no longer need to rely on protein bars at 5am if I had a train/flight to catch at 7am because the kitchen wasn't open for me to make myself some tea! I'm trying hard to come up with anything - any one thing that's wrong about this place but no such luck. It's THAT good! Internet acess, Wi-Fi, you name it - you got it. Nice spacious baggage store in the basement where they don't charge you (unlike Earl's Court). Breakfast can be bought for a price but because the kitchen's open 24x7, you're free to do your own thing.

The hostel is located in the heart of London. Oxford Street is about 10 minutes walk, and the nearest tube station (Great Portland St)about 5-10 minutes. Very convenient, and very safe. it has the advantage of being near the Holiday Inn, Regent's Park which has very tight security, so the whole neighbourhood seems safe.

The bedrooms are a bit small though. Not so much the beds, but the space between beds for one to move his luggage so don't take big luggages to this place, you'll have a hard time opening it once in your room.

That said, I give his hostel 5/5. I thought the St.pancras one was the best, well not any longer!

I arrived very late on Friday night the reception was still open as it is 24 hour and the staff were very helpful. I was also able to buy a padlock as i hadnt thought about that and planned ahead but it was only £3 and is necessary for the lockers in the rooms. I was given my key and room details and told to choose a bed which was vacant. The room had 4 bunks in it and each had a locker. I chose an empty bunk and went for the bottom bunk as i had managed to drink nearly a whole bottle of wine on the train down and didnt feel like having to climb each time i had to get up for the loo in the night. Although the room was not full on the first night the following day some people left and others arrived and the room was very cramped with all 8 beds being used and 8 suitcases out being romaged through (girls just dont pack lite) however this was not for long as everyone was getting ready to move on or head out for the day. Bearing in mind how central the hostel is there was a bit of noise during the night but this did not overly disturb me as i had ear plugs which i put in when it got noisy. The room was very warm though and the first night i regretably didnt open the window but the following 2 nights the window was open adding to the noise but making the room cooler and more plesent and like i said with ear plug which are an essential for all hostels i imagine it was fine. The Cafe bar downstairs was fab i had a hot drink most mornings and the breakfast was reasonably priced as were the pininis which were only £1.50. I also had a few drinks in there on Sunday night on my own but got talking to people who were all really friendly and the drinks were also reasonably priced. The place was clean in most areas, there was a kitchen in the basement but i didnt venture in the the kitchen as i ate out all of the time i was there. There is also a laundry and baggage room in the basement, i used the baggage room which was £3 for a locker which was a must as i had my laptop and other expensive belonging with me, however when i returned to get my bags the room was absolutly packed with stuff and getting to the locker was difficult and required me to climb over dozens of cases. The bed was a little hard but not to uncomfortable and there were 2 pillows which was a bonus. Overall the stay was fantastic, the staff at the hostel were all lovely and i would definately stay here again in the future as the location is perfect for all aspects of London particularly with the tube which make everything so accessable but takes time to get your head around which line is which. My first experience of London was a few years ago and I really did not enjoy it yet this trip opened my eyes to a new world and I had so much fun I didnt want to come home.

This hostel was in the perfect location in London! It is within walking distance (10-15 minutes) to the shopping mecca, Oxford Street. Not to mention it is close to a tube station (Great Portland station), a fantastic grocery store (Sainsburys), and coffee (Starbucks)

Even though it is so close to everything it is nestled in a quiet neighborhood (Fitzrovia). The room itself was small especially when you have luggage and crap all over the floor. I recommend taking the bottom bunk unless you want to keep climbing up and down. The beds were surprisingly comfortable and had no problems sleeping at all. There was a bathroom in the room which was nice but the shower was a wee bit small. There was a communal shower down the hall which is larger than the shower in the room. It is recommended to bring slippers to wear going in the bathroom, a lock for your locker, your own towel, and an adaptor (the one with three prongs)

The hostel has all the amenities that you need. In the reception lobby you can have breakfast at the café, have a drink at the bar, use their computer to surf the internet, lounge and watch TV, play board games and even Wii. In the basement of the hostel there is a fully quipped kitchen, mini refrigerators, and pantry to store you food. Also, in the basement is a laundry room.

This hostel also offers a free walking tour of London! It is highly recommended and what better way to meet other people. They also offer other walking tours such as the “Jack the Ripper” tour and the “Pub Crawl” which there is a fee of only 10.00GBP.

When I go back to London, I will definitely be staying at this hostel again. It has everything: value, location, atmosphere.

I'm not sure if I qualify for giving a review, seeing as I only used the room for sleeping, but I'll write one anyway.

I stayed here with 3 friends in September. We shared a private 4 bed-room with its own bathroom. We were all really happy with it. It only took around 7 minutes to walk to oxford street, which made it really easy for us to take the tube anywhere. The street it's on is really quiet even though its central. Id really recomend it for people going on a long weekend trip to London, planning on being out as much as possible, and just needing a place to throw their bags and to sleep.

We often walked home from a night out, seeing as the hostel is so close to Soho it was not a problem at all, and it was really nice to have that little walk before we went to sleep.

The people in the reception were really nice as well, and made my first stay at a hostel very pleasant.