Avalon Private Hotel

Frommer's Review

A bit of a comedown after the Harlingford , this hotel is easier on the purse. One guidebook from Queen Victoria's day claimed the Bloomsbury neighborhood attracted "medical and other students of both sexes and several nationalities, American folk passing through London, literary persons 'up' for a week or two's reading in the British Museum, and Bohemians pure and simple." The same might be said for today's patrons of this hotel, which was built in 1807 as two Georgian houses in residential Cartwright Gardens. Guests have use of a semiprivate garden across the street with tennis courts. Top-floor rooms, often filled with students, are reached via steep stairs, but bedrooms on the lower levels have easier access. A professional decorator recently added many Victorian-inspired touches to the hotel, in addition to new carpeting, making it more inviting. The bedrooms were also recently renewed with new linens and fresh curtains. Private bathrooms with showers are extremely small. Most guests in rooms without bathrooms have to use the corridor bathrooms (four bedrooms to a bathroom), which are generally adequate and well maintained.

Facilities:
Use of tennis courts in Cartwright Gardens; coin-op washers and dryers; same-day dry cleaning; nonsmoking rooms

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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