Not the best hostel in the world but it's alright! (St Christopher Inn)

Member Name: annallon

Product:	St Christopher Inn
Date:	11/08/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean and efficient services, lockers/plugs provided, free storage, very helpful services

Disadvantages: Traffic is murder and might keep up the sensitive of people, cramped toilets, average breakfast

St Christopher's Inn

There are 4 branches in London alone and this one is on 28 Hammersmith Broadway. The hostel is based in a near-fantastic location of Hammersmith, which is very easy to access from the piccaddilly line from King's Cross, which only took 25 minutes, this is rather quick than taking the bus or taking the Circle and District line from Euston Square.

The hostel is situated on a very busy road; which is just outside of Hammersmith's mini shopping centre. It is literally 2 minutes walk which majority of the time is spent waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. We were given rather clear directions on the printed E-ticket; it said that it was right in front of the exit of Hammersmith Broadway. Due to the subtleness of the hostel itself, we walked out of the shopping centre and we didn't find it at first and then concluded that the hostel actually made up the directions to 'big' themselves up. After 20 minutes, we had no success and retraced our steps, and had a proper gander around the exit. Then we saw it. It was really in front of Hammersmith Broadway exit! The sign and logo was not very clear at all. The hostel itself is placed above Belushi's bar. It is affiliated with the Belushi's bar and we were given vouchers for £1 each off their drinks and food and 10% off everything we ordered in the place.

As I was house-hunting around in London with a friend and using various different hostels depending on their price; we had to check out by 10am and had nowhere to place our bags until we'd check in later that day. However, we spoke to the staff on the phone, asked them if it was possible to place our bags into their storage for the afternoon before we checked in later that day and to our surprise, they agreed to store it for free! We were shocked as the other hostel actually charged us £1.50 to store it. The next day, we checked out and they still let us store our bags again even though we weren't coming back! This service has solidified them as a hostel I will come back to for their helpful services.

We ordered a 8-room mixed dorm for £18 each; not the cheapest hostel in the world but it had some standards to live up to as we stayed in some fantastic hostels for half the price. We had to walk three flights of stairs to get to our room; from what we saw, everything seemed pretty clean. The toilets and showers were white and didn't seem to smell so that was a plus. We used our electronic cards to get into the room; there was 8 bunk-beds scattered around the room randomly; there was no order and looked pretty messy. We checked in about 2pm and they still hadn't done the linen on the beds. But when they did, the linen was very clean and smelled good! We went ahead and chose our beds by placing our belongings with no value inside on the beds as a reserve. I chose the bed nearest to the window; which turned out to be a bad idea. As I stated that the hostel is placed above the busy road; it meant we could hear the road throughout the night; it was unrelentless. The room was very cool due to its massive bay windows being open and letting in a lot of fresh air. Next to the bed; they had lockers which was pretty useless unless you brought your own lock. Still, it was pretty good to place all your things in the lockers while you're sleeping.

Using the bunk-beds was a good experience; the mattress was rather comfortable to sleep on and the pillows/duvet was of good quality. What I didn't really like was the seemingly lack of privacy; I had to change in the bathrooms/toilets as seeing it was a mixed dorm. In previous hostels, they'd provided curtains along the bunk beds itself for privacy and this was lacking in this hostel. When someone came in later that night and got onto the bed above me, it didn't wake me up, meaning the bed didn't make too much noise or shake much or either I was pretty tired that nothing would have woke me up.

When getting ready for bed; someone turned hte lights out even though there was still people awake! This didn't matter as there was a version of a 'night-light' next to my bed which was useful when I was reading my book. Next to the nightlight- they provided a series of plugs; English and European plug sockets so it was a benefit to charge up my phone for the next day.

I didn't personally use the showers but my friend commented that the showers must have been on a Jet-stream setting as it was really a violent shower and she wasn't comfortable! Using the toilets was acceptable; there was no windows or vent to clear up the air inside; also when using one of the toilets, it was very difficult to get into it as you have to force yourself up to the toilet bowl and then tuck yourself backwards to allow the door to shut. This wasn't suitable for an overweight person who will not be able to close the door. I was impressed that they provided anti-bacterial hand cream of a respectable brand at the sink, I duly used it. I didn't see any kitchens to do our cooking in the evening so we *had* to eat out, which wasn't that much of a trouble as seeing there's a wide range of food places just outside; even in the bar below!

One of the main downfalls of the hostel is that they didn't really provide facilities beyond the basics; I had left my towel at home and I didn't want to fork out extra money for a towel that I'd use twice/three times; so I hoped that the hostel provided any towels or any fabrics but they didn't so that was unfortunate. Also, there wasn't a 'chill-out- area in the hostel that we saw; it only consisted of a single couch and nothing else.

We were given electronic cards that gained us access to the hostel itself. The hostel isn't accessible through the bar but from the side; a little alleyway which is also an entrance to the tube station! It was reliable and very easy to use to gain access. However, when I was brushing my teeth, and I needed to get back to my room to get changed, the door wouldn't open! I kept jimming it inside the access and it still wouldn't open. A kind soul that I was sharing a room with got out of bed to let me in!

Internet access is available on the computers; not wirelessly, it is 50 pence per ten minutes which is a bit expensive after having rented a computer for an hour for £1 down the road! But however, you can use it for free using Yell's sponsored search; which means you have to search what's in Yell's book, like other hostels in the area and the like.

When checking in later that evening around 8pm to grab the rest of our belongings, there was bouncers at the door who asked for our ID; fair enough; we do look stupidly young but we were old enough to enter the pub, surely? The bouncers refused us access as we weren't old enough to go into it. So the hostel accepts 18 year old people but not people under 21 years old in their bars? So we had to argue and reason with the bouncers that we needed our belongings which were in storage in the cellar.

Next morning; we woke up late, about half 9 and dressed really quickly and headed down to the bar for our free breakfast. They had weetabix for cereal and just white bread for toasting in which a toaster alongside it was provided. As well a kettle with breakfast tea bags, coffee powder, sugar and milk. I had all of them as seeing they were free so I duly had to take them. ;) I was satisfied with the weetabix but was not impressed with the bread itself. The bread itself was like cardboard and I didn't even finish it. Breakfast lasted until 10am. I wanted to use my £1 voucher but unfortunately it didn't officially open until 11am and I had to leave by then.

Exiting the hostel was very easy and no trouble; just handed in our electronic cards and we were on our way.

In all, this was a very efficient and clean hostel with just the basics and it was a very good stay. Having spent a lot of time in hostels; I would say this ranks in my top 5 of hostels for its good quality beddings, clean rooms and facilities and extremely helpful service.

Summary: In all, a very good hostel for the price we paid!