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Do you know what the nicest sight in the world is? It’s walking over Waterloo Bridge in the wind and the rain and seeing the Strand Palace Hotel coming into view as you round the corner. They’ve even got a bowler-hatted gentleman on the door to hold it open for you.
The lobby is colossal. They’ve got four or five people standing behind the desk, a few restaurants coming off the side, a jewellery shop and a cafe, bar, an obligatory aquarium, and a few computers for surfing the net.
Inside a room at the Strand Palace
Photo: londondrum.comThe room has all the usual stuff that you’d expect to find in a 4-star hotel: TV, telephone, desk, safe, hairdryer and free Wi-Fi. It also has a bin, a window, some carpet, four walls and a door (I like to be thorough).
The bathroom is quite roomy with a shower and a bath, but I know from my previous visits that not all of the rooms have a bath, so you might want to make a point of asking for one on your booking.
One thing that I find quite handy is the vending machine on every floor. Not a lot of hotels do this, and maybe you think having a Coke and crisp machine in the corridor is a bit downmarket for a 4-star hotel – but I can’t be bothered to go down to the bar every time I want a can of something.
Photo: londondrum.com
Photo: londondrum.comBar and restaurant at the Strand Palace
The bar is full of businessmen and old tourist couples squinting at the menu trying to work out what to eat. It’s the kind of place that sells a bottle of red wine for twenty quid. And there’s a nice bottle of champagne if you’ve got £55 burning a hole in your pocket. I don’t have anything to celebrate that’s worth 55 quid, so I just settle for a cup of coffee.
Breakfast is an all-you-can-eat, self-service type affair with baked beans, sausages, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheeses, cereals and fruit. And then there’s about a hundred different varieties of fruit juice, tea and coffee.
Hotel’s location near Covent Garden
One of the best things about the Strand Palace Hotel is its location. Covent Garden is literally right around the corner and Trafalgar Square is only five minutes down the road. You can easily walk to Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus. St. Paul’s is walkable if you put in a bit of effort, and there are about a bazillion buses right outside the front door which will take you just about anywhere in London.
So to sum it all up then… would I stay here again? Yes, I would. And I have! I’ve been to lots of London hotels and this is definitely one of my favourites.
