Arena House

For £24 a night, I expected a hostel bunk, but got a single bed, satellite TV, a wardrobe, and a kettle instead. That's really good value, and the staff were all super friendly. I would definitely recommend staying at Arena house, since at that price you can't go wrong compared with B&Bs and hotels. The only drawback was the shared shower: I had to walk back to my room with wet hair. You need to hire a towel too, so I'd bring one along. Still, given the cost, it's hard to complain.

The location and low price are the only real positives of Arena House. Budget travellers can get a room for as little as £20 a night, right between the city centre and Chinatown. Depending which way you turn outside, you can reach your destination in a 5-10 minute walk. That's about it, though. This was worse than university accommodation. If you've got a lot of luggage, think twice: there's no lift, so I had to haul 30kgs up three flights of stairs to my room. Cleanliness in both the private rooms and shared spaces was revolting. Behind the bed in my room were layers of dust. A packet of bread in the kitchen cupboard was covered in mould, suggesting cleaners hadn't been in for weeks. The two bathrooms shared on the top floor were rancid: dried dirt, overflowing bins with used toilet paper and hygiene pads, no clean toilet paper at all, and water leaking from the toilet onto the floor. The sockets were behind the bed, which could have been fine if the bed moved. It was fixed to the floor, so the frame blocked the cables and I couldn't charge anything. Service was poor too. At best, you might reach a staff member who doesn't respond. Usually, no one picked up, and reception closed at 4PM. If you're on a budget and don't mind one or two nights in a messy, dusty university room, you could go for it. Otherwise, avoid it. I regret not paying a few pounds more for a decent room and a clean bathroom I wasn't afraid to use.

The rooms were comfortable, and being close to the city centre was a plus. But the hallways often smelled, and the bathrooms were hardly ever cleaned. There were only two bathrooms for roughly ten rooms on each floor, which is ridiculous. I know it's cheap and you get what you pay for, but bathrooms are essential and should be cleaned at least once a day. During my week there, I only saw them cleaned once.

The location feels secure and is really convenient, and the rooms are adequate, though quite small. Mine had a single bed, wardrobe, desk, chair, shelf, heater and TV. Each floor has a shared kitchen and a couple of bathrooms, with two washers and dryers in the basement. Laundry costs £1-2 per load. The kitchens, though, were absolutely disgusting. There’s no cupboard or fridge shelf assigned to each room, so food gets left behind for months after people move out. I threw away a whole bin of mouldy food, including onions and tomatoes that had liquified and milk that had gone solid. The best before dates were months out of date. Why not label a cupboard and fridge shelf for every room? The bathrooms weren’t very nice either. I’d probably avoid this place if you plan to use the kitchen.