Bridge Park Hotel

For the low price, it’s about what you’d expect, and we picked it because it was a 35-minute walk to Wembley. The rooms are very old and poorly maintained, like something out of The Shining. The beds are awful, and I wouldn’t want to stay more than one night. Our room’s fridge didn’t work, the bathroom extractor sounded like a jet engine with a spanner inside, and there was a three-quarter-used bar of hand soap by the sink.

We had a very poor stay at Bridge Park Hotel. The room was dirty and badly maintained, with marks on the walls, unclean bedding and hygiene issues in the bathroom. The bathroom was very small too. The radiator was stuck on, making the room extremely hot. We contacted reception twice. At first, we were told to turn it off ourselves, but we couldn’t. A staff member eventually had to come with a key to switch it off, which showed that guests had no control over the system and it wasn’t properly maintained. The bathroom radiator was so hot that it burned my partner’s arm. We raised the problems during our stay, but the hotel didn’t engage with Booking.com to resolve the complaint. The room wasn’t in suitable condition for a paid stay, and based on this experience, we wouldn’t recommend the hotel.

The friendly staff, fresh-looking sheets and, thankfully, no bed bugs are what earned this place two stars. The room itself was a different story. We paid £53 a night for a double with its own bathroom, hoping to avoid the shared-bathroom problems we’d read about, and ended up in a cold, musty basement. The heating was turned all the way up but barely warm, and the thin, hard mattress made the springs noticeable all day. There was no hand soap, just a small bottle of body wash in the bath. The TV was tiny and far from the bed, and the cupboard where the spare pillow was stored had mold. The walls were cracked and dirty, and the dim lighting made everything feel bleak. Outside the basement window there was assorted rubbish, including a used nappy. At least reception was pleasant and check-in was quick. Free parking is a bonus in London. The building is very old and badly needs refurbishment, and from outside it looks like a run-down pub, with barely readable signage and no clear indication where to turn or park. It’s in an out-of-the-way neighborhood opposite a generic chicken takeaway. I sometimes read one-star reviews and think the reviewer is being dramatic, but this really felt like the definition of a budget hotel, whether or not it calls itself one. I hope this helps someone decide.

Our basement twin room had a fan and a vent, and there was plenty of space in both the room and bathroom. The bed was comfortable, and for the price it felt fair. Wembley is about a 35-minute walk away, with a bus stop right outside if you’d rather take the bus. We enjoyed our stay.