Islington Inn — Hotel in London

I've been coming back to Islington Inn since 2019. I lived in 5 different rooms (single and double) and I can say that this is the place I will return to again. Here's why:

1. Friendly, helpful, nice staff (especially Roman and Hasu - two the most professional and lovely guys you meet at the reception). You can always ask for directions, attractions, weather, fridge storage of your goods, or just have a nice conversation. They can even help you to find a right cheaper store for the item you need.
2. Great location. Islington is a good area with low crime rate, beautiful residential blocks, and lovely little parks. Moreover, there're several buses, which go to different parts of the City Center/North/South. Not far from the hotel there're overground, underground and train station. There're 2 supermarkets, fruit markets, pubs, fish&chips, restaurants, takeaways, laundry services and any shops you can imagine. Angel station (not far) has shopping center. You can also reach Dalston in 10-15 minutes on foot for a wider choice of restaurants (Pret, Pizza, McDonalds, something fancier), Western Union office, big Sainsbury's, Boots, Superdrug, Argos.
3. Sometimes low price. If you're planning your trip in advance, you can get a great price for the room.
4. Rooms have everything you need: comfortable beds, bins, kettles, cups, tea/coffee/sugar, closets, nightstands with lamps, mirrors, TV, fast wi-fi, shower cabins, clean toilets, central heating. There were days when I spent the whole time in my room, and I have nothing to complain about (probably because I'm a practical person and I'm not pursuing overabundant luxury).
5. You can easily open windows (I previously tried one hotel where I couldn't fill the room with fresh air because the window frame was nailed shut).
6. Nice view from any side of the hotel.
7. Relatively quiet, especially of your window is overlooking the yard. And if not, the road isn't that busy at night anyway, you can even hear birds singing.
8. Safety. I'm a girl travelling alone, so it's an important thing for me.

Yes, there're sadly no breakfasts anymore (and they were great in the past), but still, with crazy London prices, this place wins for so many reasons. And, yes, I'm personally a fan of old buildings, and for an old building this one is REALLY warm and cozy. I lived here in December, January and February. I recommend Islington Inn to those practical people, who want to spend an active vacation in London or come here...

A very poor experience, sadly.

From the desolate no lights reception to the fire hazard of an electrical outlet.

I came here with my partner as the hotel boasted decently priced rooms that (from the pictures) appeared to be at a competitive level to that of a premier in.

However, upon arrival, the first thing we were greeted with was a pitch-black reception. This had us believe it was closed at first. Walking up to the windows allowed us to see other guests inside.

We received a room key rather fast from the staff member who was very polite and made clear the reception was a 24-hour reception. This, however, ended up not being the case. A swift walk to reception at around 1am showed the now even darker reception completely empty.

Now the room....

We were suited in a 2nd floor room, which was, to say the least, a room. The room did not hold any of the standards that were shown in pictures.

Please see my images.

Let's go from the floor up, shall we. The carpet was filthy and, in clear, need a Of a hoover.

The walls had wallpaper peeling off and even large scratches that a spare bed was used to cover.

An electrical outlet was hanging away from the wall, causing one of the plugs to not work unless pushed into the wall with a lot of force. I actually received a minor electrical shock, causing me to not use the outlet whatsoever in fear of me and my partner's safety.

The bathroom was clean, but the stairs that had to be used were interesting. My partner is 5'9 and hit their head on the (Non marked) low hanging sloping ceiling. I am much taller than my partner at around 6'2 it was almost impossible to get into this bathroom for me.

To give the cherry on top to this room, we were unable to get an extension on our checkout time. This isn't a problem as i understand other customers will be using the room later. However, when the excuse given was "to clean the room," i had doubts as it wasn't even cleaned for us.

All in all, I do not recommend anyone visit this location if you need a cheaper hotel with a decent standard...

Staff on the desk friendly enough and the place is clean.

However i was supposedly staying according to my booking in one of their better rooms with a canopy bed, decorated in a modern indian style. However what i got was a room that was not much bigger than the bed. The door lock was not installed properly and you could just push the door open without a key as the gap between the latch and the hole was too far apart. The only way to secure the room was to use the deadlock on the door. There was a 1/4 inch gap at the base of the door which means you could hear every conversation and noise in the corridor. The room itself was on the wonk, the floor wasnt level and was on a slope and the bed was about 5 inches higher at the foot of the bed due to the slope, so that you were sleeping with your feet, legs and body higher than your head which isnt good when trying to sleep. The sash windows were being held open by a piece of tubular metal as the mechanisms had bust. The modern indian decor and canopy bed was non existant and probably had been decorated in 5 - 10 years. and the remote for the TV was broken so you couldnt watch TV.

The bathroom was fairly modern but very small and the shower is extremely difficult to get into unless you are as skinny as a stick insect.

It says they have a restaurant and that they do tapas style indian food.... yeah they dont! I had to get a deliveroo delivery for evening dinner.

Breakfast was probably one of the worst i have had in a hotel. It was continental style ish... but the bread was stale.. yellow round the edges, yoghurts were morrisons value range, literally. Orange juice was watery and i suspect it was more a orange juice based drink as opposed to pure orange juice.

Basically i only had orange juice then decided to leave and get breakfast at my destination.

Was it cheap?.. yep... was it the only hotel in the area under £300 on that day?.. yep.. would it be good for someone on a very tight budget or a student?... yep.. would i stay...