YHA St. Pancras

Don't hesitate to choose St Pancras as your hostel in London. It's very well located, some pubs nearby, easy to go to tube station, besides you can go walking to CAMDEN TOWN!! Simply the best in London!

Phenomenal for a Hostelling international/YHA hostel. So clean, tidy, well-appointed and maintained, ensuite shower and WC. Central to the British Museum, University of London, British Library, and the 3 mainline termini (plus Eurostar) for rail travel. And the piece de resistance? A humongous breakfast all-included in the £24 overnight fee. Ace. 5*.

I stayed here for one night on 24th August. And the experience was, in one word - WONDERFUL!

Before I get on with the positive aspects of the place, I'll run down the -ve bits first.

1. Rude receptionists. Very unhelpful. One of them yelled at a lady when she asked him why he closed the kitchen at 10:55pm instead of the stated 11pm. The receptionist that served me nearly shot me for not having the right amount of money (I had to pay some £ 24.30) that I had to search all my pockets to find the change. She said worst case, she'd take my 50£ note and give me the change the next day. I didn't want to take the chance, what if her shift is over and she forgets to tell someone else and I don't get my change?

2. The kitchen closes too early. Should be open at least till midnight. Enough for us to say, use the fridge or be able to warm sthg up in the microwave. The whole point of being a backpacker is that we arrive at all sorts of odd hours, and are used to all sorts of meals at all sorts of hours. The very least I was expecting are kitchen facilities if not actual food!

3. In the Breakfast area, at least keep forks and cutlery available so that we can eat the food we bring. I had to hunt for a spoon for my yoghurt.

Now, the GOOD - I got in from a long train ride from Edinburgh. I had no difficulty finding the hostel it's on the main road itself. It was about 11:15pm when I got in, had to get some takeaway (see my comments above on the kitchen). Got done with my dinner and went to my room. It was simply divine. So spacious, thick walls which means pin drop silence and you can't hear a thing going on outside. Comfy beds, clean bathroom. The room had a nice centre table, and cupboards as well for you to hang your jacket, etc.

Another nice thing - along with en suite bathrooms, they also have bathrooms and toilets for the floor itself. I was really impressed.

Now, the highlight - the breakfast! Having stayed in 1000 diff hostels the last few weeks, I was expecting the usual bread toast and cereal. But OMG! it was like a 5 course breakfast - scrambled eggs, baked beans, sausages, cereal, fruits, juice, yogurt, toast bread with some 2 flavours of jam, etc. Very impressive. In the last few weeks of backpacking, that day was the 1st time that I had lunch as late as 2pm! The breakfast that morning was that filling.

Overall a great experience. I shall come to this YHA I think compared to the Earl's Court one (which btw was also good). keep up the good work, folks!