Journey's Greenwich

Something different
This hostel isn't like any of the other hostels in London. You can rate hostels on cleanliness and location and whatever, and if you just need to sleep and eat and tick the London box and move on, then it just comes down to price and stars. But here is different -- there is some Caribbean magic or something. it's a place with a soul and real humans (that's unusual in hostels anywhere). On the downside, things won't necessarily run like clockwork. Ever. But it's a heartwarming place and I really enjoyed it.

This hostel is located in Greenwich, southeast London, which means it is nowhere near anything. We found it ok, because we had a look on the map, but it takes about thirty minutes train ride on the Docklands train from the centre, and then a ten-minute walk. Six minutes from Waterloo, or fourteen minutes from London Bridge, as advertised, doesn't really work if you don't know your way around very well, as it involves getting on the SouthEastern railway. By bus even longer. The area is kinda scruffy, but interesting, with lots of ethnic and late-night booze shops (important!). There are apparently some colleges around somewhere but no university feel to the area at all. When you first walk into the smoky bar where you have to register, it's a bit unsettling, with a lot of mean-looking black locals giving you the eye, but the landlady is really very nice and helpful, in a butch sort of way. The place is very basic but clean enough, mainly because of the recent renovation. Kitchens are fine, bathrooms could have more shelves and/or hooks to put your stuff, only one shower/two toilets/two sinks per floor! All narrow, lockable but not separated by male/female. Had to ask for toilet paper three times and they don't usually give out towels, as opposed to what is mentioned in the description. Wireless not set up yet as of May 23rd, but we could get a good signal from somewhere. The usual swaying, metal bunkbeds, also in the small twin rooms, squeaky but new, clean and comfy. Laundry facilities consist of one communal washer/dryer in the kitchen which the staff uses to wash the sheets most of the time. People smoke in kitchen and TV room. Friday to Sunday nights they apparently play loud music in the bar below (where none of the guests hung out), with so much bass it made the beds move! No sleep 'til the small hours, our roommates said. We were there Mon 'til Wed, fine except for loud brawling outside the front door early evening. Otherwise quiet area. Possibility of being moved around rooms like musical chairs because they can't sync online bookings with walk-ins. One long-term resident had all his clothes in our cupboard and stuff under the bed because he gets moved almost nightly. For this reason he also knew our door code! No idea if these get changed at all, so not many points for security. All this sounds kinda scary but on the whole the vibe was friendly, nice relaxed people staying there, many long-termers. Cheap! We paid 10 pounds each (online price), and they let us stay in the twin for no extra charge the seconnd night (again, because of booking arrangements). It all seemed a bit disorganized, in a friendly sort of way. One star out of the three for friendliness, otherwise I would've given only two My rating -- cheap and utilitarian with a nice communal feel to it.