The Clarendon Hotel - Blackheath, London

Clarendon is the only hotel in Blackheath so no nearby competition. Has gone through extensive renovations over the years, each one making it better. Rooms at the front - best view over the Heath but oldest, smallest and noisiest, no air conditioning and 3rd floor has no elevator access. Back rooms are brand new, elevator access, quieter, and larger and more modern. Great breakfast and wonderful, helpful dining room staff. Front desk staff, charming but incompetent - room safe stayed broken throughout our 4-day stay despite frequent requests to have it fixed. Worst thing about the hotel are the automatic bathroom lights and fans - going to the bathroom at 3:00 in the morning gets you full floodlight and extractor fan treatment. Apart from that, if you need to be in Blackheath, this is the place to stay. Great location - 3-minute walk to shops and great restaurants, and 5-minutes to the station where trains will take you into the heart of London - Victoria, Charing Cross, London Bridge, and Waterloo. (Get an all-day or weekly pass that gets you on to the Tube as well)

Perfect location, not too noisy or congested. Convenient transit via bus or rail into central London. Excellent English breakfast. Second stay here, would stay again.

The menu and room service are not available when they say they are...also there is no air conditioning and the hallways and rooms get excessively hot in just the high 70s. The bartender and wait staff are very helpful. The front desk seems confused and untrained. The location is great in sleepy Blackheath and is a 10-15min walk to great views in Greenwich Park on the Thames. For the cost it’s definitely not worth it on any warm day. The bar and restaurant are air conditioned so it’s clear there is an awareness of the problem. Several guests commented how they wanted to sleep in the bar.

I guess all ratings are relative to a person’s experience as well as comparison with accommodations in the same area. I have tried to adjust my rating to take these two factor into consideration. Price is high, but compared to other hotels it is more reasonable. The hotel is an old building with an old-structure charm to it. However, I felt that the owners could have made improvements in the building while staying true to the heritage of the structure. Beds were fairly comfortable and clean. The bath was a bit cramped. Shower was downright torture for a guy as big as me. I don’t know why you would have a tub in such a small area. Just have a stand-in shower and your guests would be more comfortable. The breakfast was great; English breakfast through and through. Vicinity of the hotel was great for touristy stuff, full of pubs and restaurants. And it was right by the DLR station and multiple bus stops, so going to London was a train ride away. For those who don’t want to pay the enormous cost of hotels in the city center, this hotel is a great choice. If the shower was not a torture for me, I would have rated this joint very good, but I’ll have to give it a pass as it stands.

the room or suite was lovely but I am not sure I would have chosen a more expensive room since I really only was there to sleep and eat breakfast. The fresh milk and still water was a lovely touch and the breakfast was delicious.