Buckle Street Studios by Locke Aldgate

Stayed overnight recently and found the hotel quite comfortable. Great value for money as some of the nearby hotels are a lot pricier. The rooms are quite tight but with lots of amenities including a hob and an oven. Rooms were reasonably clean (except the rug) and the bed was super comfortable. My only gripe is the dimmer switches which are quite fiddly and the position of the lights are such that you just can get the room and the bathroom to be well lit.

Hotel has a good location, but there are better options nearby. Rooms are poorly lit, even with dimmers at maximum. Bare concrete walls clash with the otherwise clean interior and disrupt the room’s aesthetic. Soundproofing is subpar—you can hear toilets flushing and water draining through pipes in adjacent rooms. A foul odor entered the room via the air conditioning when other rooms flushed - turning off the AC stopped it. A £1 deposit is required for key cards, which feels out of place given the hotel’s pricing and location, though it's a minor issue. No on-site breakfast or gym. Guests must use an external gym, which is inconvenient. Food is available at a partner building but isn’t included in the stay. Studio bed is passable but not particularly comfortable. Room layout is cramped with limited space to move around. Might be mostly just down to me personally. No minibar. Bathroom lighting is very dim. Basic toiletries provided—shower gel, shampoo, conditioner might be considered special to some but they do the job. Socket placement is poor. No bedside tables; outlets and light controls are located behind the headboard, requiring awkward reach. Visible electrical conduits further detract from the room’s design. Functional layout choices appear secondary to inconsistent aesthetic decisions. Staff seem good, friendly and helpful so thats a positive takeaway.

The room was super narrow and it was impossible to get to one side of the bed without bruises. You could hear people in the other rooms at night as if they were right next to you. Half the things that were listed when booking - washing machine, coffee machine, iron, sofa, didn’t exist in the room, which is just false advertisement. When asking the staff about the coffee machine listed they told me they have a kettle and instant coffee - those should do the job. We had 1 towel even though 2 people were registered for the room and had to go down to pick some up. It was super dusty in the room and the ventilation was really poor, the bathroom didn’t dry at all because there wasn’t a fan in there. There wasn’t 1 window that you could crack to get some air in. The bed and pillows weren’t that comfortable and there were no side tables. Furthermore, I’d have to break my neck to watch the TV in the room because of the awkward placement. I’d booked a studio and the room we were given wasn’t anything close, just because you have a sink next to the front door it doesn’t mean you can advertise it as a kitchenette. Overall, the value for money just wasn’t there. When you’re paying half a grand you’d expect at least the things listed when booking would be present.