London Drum

Club Quarters St. Paul’s – Review of the 4-star hotel near St. Paul's Cathedral

Club Quarters St. Paul’s HotelPhoto: londondrum.com
Star rating: ★★★★ Address: Club Quarters St. Paul’s, 24 Ludgate Hill, The City Contact: Tel: 0207 651 2200 Web: clubquartershotels.com Facilities: Restaurant, gym, laundry and self-service launderette, room service, tea & coffee, Wi-Fi, TV, telephone, hairdryer, ensuite bathroom, air-conditioning Parking: Car parks near St. Paul’s Cathedral Buses: 4, 11, 15, 17, 23, 26, 76, 172 Bus fares Trains: The closest station is St. Paul’s Central Other nearby stations: Bank, Barbican, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Chancery Lane, Farringdon, Mansion House, Moorgate and Temple Train fares

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Craig’s review… I quite liked this hotel when I first entered the room, but I’ve cooled on it now that I’ve been here a while. But I don’t want to start this review on a downer because there’s still plenty to recommend it, so let me tell you about all the good stuff first.

The best thing about this hotel is definitely its location. When you step outside the front door you can see the front steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral sixty-seconds up the street. (And I really do mean sixty-seconds exactly, because I timed it on my phone!)

Inside the room and ensuite bathroom

Inside a room at the Club Quarters St. Paul’sPhoto: londondrum.com
Inside a room at the Club Quarters St. Paul’s

The second best thing about this hotel is the size of my room. It’s quite large for a London hotel, and you also get a big desk (bigger than my desk at home), stocked with a few books like the Oxford English Dictionary & Thesaurus and Philip’s Encyclopedia.

TV and desk inside a room at the Club QuartersPhoto: londondrum.com
TV and desk inside a room at the Club Quarters

Now comes the bad stuff (and remember that this is supposed to be a 4-star hotel). My room doesn’t have a safe in it. There’s no iron either. No minibar. Not even a bar downstairs – just a lounge with a tea machine. They only give you two teabags in your room plus a flimsy little toothpick spoon that bends and softens when you put it in your cup.

A lot of the other things that you’d normally expect to find in a 4-star room have to be collected from a utility closet down the hall. That’s where you’ll find the iron and ironing board. So every time you want to iron something you have to traipse through the maze of hallways and carry them back to your room.

They’ve also got a self-service launderette and vending machine in there, plus some more tiny plastic spoons in case your other one melts. It’s quite a handy thing to have I suppose, but it’s not the kind of thing I would expect to find in a 4-star hotel – it reminds me of living in a student dorm. They should just put an iron in each room and stop being so tight.

Hotel restaurant

The restaurant is also very nice, but technically it’s just a high street restaurant tacked on to the side. Hotel guests can go in there and order off the menu and charge the cost to their room. And because it’s a high street restaurant they do everything – buffet breakfast, cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner, the whole lot.

Don’t be too put off by my complaints though, because the location is amazing, the room is nice and big, and if they called themselves a 3-star then I’d probably recommend it without hesitation. But I’ve slept in enough 4s by now to know it’s not one of them.

Worth a stay? Value for money? Nice rooms? Good location?

Things to do near St. Paul’s Cathedral

Today Choral Evensong service at St. Paul’s Cathedral

Choral Evensong service at St. Paul’s Cathedral

Today Mary Poppins - Walking tour of London film locations

Mary Poppins - Walking tour of London film locations

Today Black Taxi Tour - Private sightseeing tour in a London cab

Black Taxi Tour - Private sightseeing tour in a London cab

Tomorrow Hidden London Walking Tour - The secret side of the City

Hidden London Walking Tour - The secret side of the City

This week Secret Old London Walking Tour

Secret Old London Walking Tour

Today Ghost Bus Tour - Scary nighttime ride through London

Ghost Bus Tour - Scary nighttime ride through London