Ashlee House

Good place to stay
Ashlee house offers comfortable beds, a very good breakfast, a good shower, nice common areas, but the location is not the best one if you want to walk to touristic attractions.

Great value, friendly people
This is a really good hostel with friendly people. It is just out of the way enough to make it affordable, but still close enough to central tube lines. The atmosphere is relaxed, but not dumpy. It's a great place for a london visit, and the staff was exceedingly friendly.

This hostel is located in Kings Cross which is in central London but is nicely away from the main tourist trap areas. It is around two hundred meters from Kings Cross/St.Pancras in what may look like a fairly run down area. The immediate surrounding area has lots of cafes, restaurants, fast food outlets, and convenience stores. Booking can be made on-line at www.ashleehouse.co.uk. Check-in opens at two-thirty p.m., where you present your reference number, complete payment, collect bed linen and you are given your relevant door entry security codes. You can also pay a refundable deposit of five pounds for your cutlery and crockery hire. I stayed in a sixteen-bed, mixed sex dormitory. The beds were bunk beds and were of a more than adequate size. The room had two sinks for washing. There are no bedside cabinets or lockers in the room. A safe is available in reception and also a luggage room which is closed between eleven p.m. and seven a.m. Toilets and shower facilities were of a fairly basic, low standard, not very clean and fresh but just about adequate for the short time you need them. Bring your own towel. Kitchen was really quite pleasant. Good amount of tables, chairs, breakfast bars, and stools. Breakfast is included in the price and consists of cereals, toast, tea, or coffee. Guests are expected to clean up after themselves. Lounge area was small. Two sofas, drinks vending machine, music, movie, games console, and internet access in a small side room. Overall a good place to stay. Toilets are a big let down which management should turn their attention to imediately. Staff were not very easily identifiable. Secutity was fairly good. I would give it six out of ten because there is a bit of room for improvement in all areas. Price -- I paid eighteen pounds (euros twenty-six) for one night in a sixteen-bed mixed dormitory in July on a Friday night.

Ashlee's house is an average hostel, nothing to write home about. We stayed in a four bed room which was small and clean and convenient since there were four of us. The beds were comfortable and there was a sink in the room. The only problem was that there was very little space to put your backpacks/suitcases. The staff was helpful at giving directions and the breakfast consisted of cereal and toast. The hostel is in the center of London although you are about 20-30 minutes walking from the heart of the city. My biggest complaint is that the bathroom was not very clean. There was hair all over the shower and one of the toilets was backed up the 2 days/1 night we were there. It appeared that they only cleaned the bathrooms once a day, which left it looking dirty. Overall, I would recommend choosing a different hostel.

it was clean and quiet and nice people to chat with at night, in all i liked it.

This is a good hostel. The location is fine. It is not really close to any of the major sites but because it is near King's Cross Station (a major underground station) its very accessible to all of central London. Some staff were excellent, some were less helpful. The breakfast provided is superb. The showers are clean but often were cold. Kitchen facilities are fine. Laundry facilities are not very good - there is only one washing machine and dryer, and the dryer does not work very well. Despite its flaws, it is a recommended place to stay.

I thought this hostel was great for what you paid for it. It was pretty clean, the staff were really nice, the kitchen/common area good, and it is really accessible and easy to find in London. I really liked it here.

First of all, staying at Ashlee House is not what I'd call a bad decision. The location, near King's Cross and the St Pancras' tube and train stations, next to the famous "Water Rats Theatre" and even within walking distance to some of the major sights (if you can take an interesting 30 minute walk), is just perfect. Nevertheless back in summer of 2003 we had problems with our given room (it simply was full). The reception indeed was smoky, the breakfast rather poor and two out of three showers were foul and shabby. The rooms themselves were rather clean — but on the other hand not very pleasant and extremely hot. Well, this was in one of the hottest summers in Britain's history. All in all: The price is ok, it's not too great, the rooms are not very pleasant but clean, and the showers were not-so-funny. But as a backpacker you're used to all of this, and will (not doubt about it) survive all of these smaller problems. If there's no time and nothing better about to be found, don't hesitate to go to Ashlee House. If you have time for planning and reservations head for somewhere else. There are better hostels, anyway.

A sixteen-bed dorm. People going in and out all night and morning, turning the light on and off. You go to bed at twelve, people come in at two, go to bed at two, people come in at four. The hostel was clean, and it was nice getting cereal instead of bread and jelly. The staff were also very friendly. But if you can't sleep with the light on, stay somewhere else.

I've stayed in many hostels, from the sterile and institutional (which is not always a bad thing) to the dumpy, yet character-filled. The Ashlee House falls nicely in the middle of these two extremes. Everything seemed to be fairly clean, the kitchen is great and well stocked, the breakfast is very crowded but decent (cereal, toast, coffee), and the staff were always pleasant. The showers really suck, though — there is no place to stash your belongings and keep them dry, and the water only dribbles out at 30-second intervals, forcing you to keep pressing the button to turn it on again and again. That's really the only downside, though. King's Cross Tube station is a short walk away, Camden is close, there's a great pub/concert venue across the street, and you can lock up all of your valuables at the front desk safe. My bed was comfortable as well, and they take security seriously by changing front door access codes every day. With the exception of the showers, I found this to be an excellent place to stay.

This hostel is nice and the beds are clean and comfy, but 16 people are just too much for one room. Tough to get any sleep because more people keep coming in and turning on the light until 3 or 4 in the morning. However, it is kind of a cool place in kind of a cool neighborhood. It may not be the best, but your experience here won't be bad.

This hostel is very nice and easy to get to. It has nice staff, Internet, and good beds. I highly recommend it.

I stayed in Ashlee House two weeks and it was awesome. The staff were very friendly and helpful and made my London visit a great time. The rooms are nice and clean. And the hostel had a very pleasant atmosphere. I can recommend it to everyone.

Ashlee House was recommend to my by a friend who stayed here a couple of years ago. She liked it for the location, but she was pissed about the smoky reception area and the crappy showers. As of October 2004, these issues have been fixed. I can report two lounge areas (one smoking) plus a self-catering kitchen for tightwads like me. The showers, though, are not great, though they aren't as bad as what I'd expected. At least they were private. When checking in you get a little booklet full of local tips, which was neat and helpful. The location is fantastic. There's nothing better than Holborn/King's Cross.

I stayed at the Ashlee House in October 2004. Most of the staff were friendly, except for the woman who served on the front desk during the day. It was a great experience here. The place is clean and well-kept. The kitchen was huge and breakfast was also good. I especially liked the Irish lad who owns the place singing Irish tunes while he helped all those staying here, making sure they got what they needed. This place has a nice lounge and rooms. I stayed with three other friends who I was travelling with, and then six Germans, who are now good friends that we keep in touch with. Overall, this is a great place to stay, close to King's Cross tube and train station. I recommend eating at the Lucas Arms pub just down Gray's Inn Road.