St. Christopher's Inn - Southbank

Not so great
The place is crawling with annoying jerks. Staff was very good, and the place was generally pretty clean. Showers are not tall enough to stand up in, and don't expect any hot water for the first ten or so minutes (if you're lucky). The location is alright, but the street out front was incredibly noisy (sirens about every eight to ten minutes), making it hard to sleep even with earplugs.

We were up here for one night back in March 2006 to meet some people we had met on our world travels. I found the place to be pretty good as the reception staff were helpful, our dorm room was pretty clean and spacious, plus it was in a good location of London to get to some of the main attractions. Belushi's Bar was a definite highlight and added at least half a star to my score -- a very sociable place that was a lot of fun well into the early hours. Our mixed dorm featured six American college girls, who invited us out the following night but we had to go back to work in the morning. Life's never fair! One bad aspect (and this could have been just bad luck on our part) was that the hostel did seem to attract some absolute a-holes. Ironically, the only hostel I have stayed in within my home country almost resulted in us getting into a fight! That aside, it was a decent place for the night but probably wouldn't be ideal for the long-term.

I booked this hostel on londontown.com and when i got there i was charged more than the price londontown had given me! The rooms were ok, much smaller than i thought but it was fine. the worst thing though was that the bunk i was sleeping in had the stairs turn to the wall so it was very hard to get to the top bunk. and whenever the person below me had gone to sleep before me or i wake up before her or i had to go to the bathroom at night i would wake up the person below trying to climb down the freaking bed cause i couldn't use the f.ing stairs! The bathrooms were a little gross but I saw someone cleaning everyday so they weren't dirty, just small. and the showers were awful cause there was a button you had to push over and over again it was annoying! The worst thing though (wait didn't i say that before, well this is worse than the worst thing i said before) was they didn't change the sheets between guests. I was there for ten days and i had four different roomates and they never changed the sheets! At weekends it was very loud! My room was very far from the bar but the music was so loud it was like the bar was in my room! I couldn't imagine how the people at the bar could be down there cause the music was so loud and i don't mind loud music but this was even loud for my taste, i mean how the hell are you supposed to sleep! When i checked out i looked at my internet bank and i saw that st christophers had charged just charged me about six pounds -- i know that isn't much and i didn't even care but i just wanted to know what they were charging me for!

If you like noise, this place is for you. I stayed here two nights. The first night the noise from the street was pretty loud but nothing earplugs couldn't fix. The second night the karaoke from the pub below literally rattled my bed until 4 a.m. Checking in down the street was a bit of a pain. Otherwise the place is decent and the staff were alright. They did tell me the wrong time for breakfast so I missed it. But considering London is generally a loud city, this place was acceptable.

The good points about this place: its location, large rooms, the bars, the staff, and the prices. The bad: the bathrooms and the showers, and the breakfast.

Good points: it's very well organized; great staff; laundry on site; rooms are cleaned daily; good security; and the rooms are pretty spacious. Bad points: aging building; some of the equipment is dodgy; the windows don't keep out sound; the bar gets VERY loud late at night; there are push-button showers; and you have to check in a couple blocks away from the hostel, which is a pain if you've got a ton of gear on. Summary: not too bad overall. I'd stay here again.

Very well-priced (for London), and very clean. The music from the bar was a problem, though.

I was there in November 2003. I met some great people (remember Allen Ginsberg's America!), and had some good times. Yes, it's loud until 2:00 a.m., but that's London for you. I've stayed in regular hotels in London on previous trips, and they cost a fortune. The facilities at St. Chris's were very comparable. I'll definitely be returning on my next trip.

The beds are ok. There are dirty facilities, the music of the disco was so loud, and you could not sleep. This was the worst experience I've ever had.