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Best value hotels in London

Town Hall Hotel, The Pilgrm and The Standard, London. Town Hall Hotel and The Pilgrm have our two lowest low-season rates, one with apartment-sized rooms, many with kitchens, and a heated pool, the other with good beds by Paddington and the Heathrow Express. The Standard, London is a design hotel facing St Pancras, on the Piccadilly line to Heathrow.

3 of our ten · Hand-pickedHotels cannot pay to be hereLast checked: September 2026

9.2/10

10,600+ Expedia guest reviews of the 10 hotels we list

Average of the guest scores Expedia publishes, weighted by review count; read 22 October 2026.

At a glance

  1. Town Hall Hotel: The marble hall under the dome

    Town Hall Hotel

    Apartment-sized rooms and a heated pool at one of our two lowest rates

    Bethnal Green · From about £173 a night

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  2. The Pilgrm: The salvaged staircase and the coffee counter

    The Pilgrm

    Good beds and Monmouth coffee, two minutes from the Heathrow Express

    Paddington · From about £184 a night

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  3. The Standard, London: The rooftop, with the spires of St Pancras

    The Standard, London

    Design hotel facing St Pancras, with the Piccadilly line to Heathrow

    King's Cross · From about £250 a night

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What we looked for

Value in London is rarely the cheapest room. Across our ten hotels, low-season rates run from under 200 pounds a night to about 750 at Claridge's, and in most of them the entry category is the room to skip, so the smart money is in knowing which step up is worth paying for. Look for three things: a room big enough to live in, an address that cuts the travel, and a clear idea of what the rate leaves out.

January is the cheapest month and June the dearest, and Wimbledon fortnight, the August carnival weekend and big conference weeks move rates more than the season does. Our three each win on a different line: space at Town Hall Hotel, Heathrow and good beds at The Pilgrm, and design on the Eurostar doorstep at The Standard, London.

Town Hall Hotel: The marble hall under the domeThe table

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Town Hall Hotel

Bethnal Green, London

Town Hall Hotel is typically from about 173 pounds a night in low season, taxes and fees included, and the rooms are what make that a bargain rather than just cheap. The entry Double Room is 23.7 to 30.7 square metres with a marble bathroom, and from Junior Suite upward most rooms have a kitchen and several add a washer-dryer, so a longer stay costs less to live in as well as to sleep in. The 14 metre heated pool and the gym are included, open to guests every day, and the building is a Grade II listed Edwardian town hall with Da Terra's two Michelin stars on the ground floor.

What you trade is the walk to the sights: Bethnal Green station is five minutes from the door, and the Central line reaches Tottenham Court Road in 12 minutes.

Junior Suite at Town Hall Hotel: the bed with checked cushions below four framed botanical prints

The room to book

Junior Suites

31.2 to 37 m²

The cheapest way into a room with a kitchenette, at 31.2 to 37 square metres, so breakfast and the odd supper come out of your own kitchen rather than off the bill.

Every room, and why

Take the room-only rate and stock the kitchen; for breakfast out, The Gallery Cafe, four minutes away, opens at 8.30am from Tuesday to Sunday.

£From about £173 a night

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The Pilgrm: The salvaged staircase and the coffee counterThe smart money

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The Pilgrm

Paddington, London

The Pilgrm has no reception desk, no minibars and no room service, and spends the money on what you use instead: organic cotton mattresses and Egyptian cotton sheets, a Marshall speaker in every room, Monmouth coffee in the ground-floor café, cocktails by Untitled Drinks and a wine list curated by Fiona Beckett. Pantries on every floor cover tea and coffee, and filtered water is free in the café. It is typically from about 184 pounds a night in low season.

The other saving is time. Paddington station is two minutes away and the Heathrow Express reaches the airport in 15 minutes, which makes this the natural first or last night of a trip. Rooms are compact, about 12 square metres for a Snug and 14 for a Comfy, and they are cooled by fans rather than air conditioning, so October to May is its season.

Comfy room at The Pilgrm: the bed with a wood headboard, a leather chair, a small round table and a long mirror

The room to book

Comfy

14 m²£219 a night

About 14 square metres with a king or super-king, against 12 and a standard double in the Snug, it is the one room with space to open a case.

Every room, and why

Ask for a room at the back of the house, away from London Street, when you book rather than on arrival.

£From about £184 a night

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The Standard, London: The rooftop, with the spires of St PancrasThe design one

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The Standard, London

King's Cross, London

The Standard, London is a 1970s Camden council block reworked as a design hotel, and its red lift climbs the outside of the building to Decimo on the tenth floor, opposite the St Pancras clock tower. The address saves money as well as time: King's Cross St Pancras has Eurostar and six Tube lines, and the Piccadilly line runs straight to Heathrow for 5.90 pounds, the cheapest of the three Heathrow trains. The gym, with Peloton bikes, is open 24 hours, and dogs stay free.

Its typical low-season price, from about 250 pounds a night, is for the Standard King Interior, which has no windows, so compare the Deluxe Queen before you book. It adds daylight and triple glazing, and it is the room that turns a good rate into a good stay.

Deluxe Queen at The Standard, London: the bed with a striped blanket and a lilac sofa in a bay of round-cornered windows

The room to book

Deluxe Queen

20 to 25 m²

At 20 to 25 square metres with a window and triple glazing, it is a proper room for the money without paying for the Premium bath and bay window.

Every room, and why

For breakfast, walk four minutes across Euston Road to Booking Office 1869, which serves from 7am.

££From about £250 a night

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How to choose

Your tripBook
You want space and a kitchenTown Hall Hotel
You want a pool on a budgetTown Hall Hotel
You fly in or out of HeathrowThe Pilgrm
You are arriving or leaving by EurostarThe Standard, London
You want design and late nights on the doorstepThe Standard, London

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Questions people ask

Good questions about London

What is the cheapest month to stay in London?

January. Across our ten hotels it is the floor and June the ceiling, with the autumn and December behind them, and Wimbledon fortnight, the August carnival weekend and big conference weeks push rates up more than the season does. In January our two lowest, Town Hall Hotel and The Pilgrm, both start under 200 pounds a night.

Is breakfast included in the room rate?

It depends on the rate, so check whether yours includes it. If not, Town Hall Hotel serves breakfast à la carte in Restaurant Elis, and most rooms from Junior Suite upward have a kitchen to make your own. At The Pilgrm the cooked breakfast in The Lounge is 16 pounds, plus a 12.5 per cent discretionary service charge, and at The Standard, London, Isla's continental breakfast is 23 pounds, plus a discretionary 15 per cent.

What is the cheapest way from Heathrow to central London?

The Piccadilly line, at 5.90 pounds by contactless: it is the slow route, but it runs straight to King's Cross, across the road from The Standard, London. The Elizabeth line is quicker, 28 minutes to Paddington for 14.60 pounds, and The Pilgrm is two minutes from the station. The Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes to Paddington, at 26 pounds on the day or from 10 booked ahead. For Town Hall Hotel, take the Elizabeth line to Liverpool Street and the Central line one stop to Bethnal Green.

Do London hotels add a service charge to the room?

Three of our ten add one to the room itself, and none shows it in the headline rate. Of our three value picks, only The Standard, London does: an optional 5 per cent of the room rate, which you can ask to have removed at check-in. Town Hall Hotel and The Pilgrm add nothing to the room. The other two are The Ned and Sea Containers London, each at a discretionary 5 per cent.

How much does the Tube cost per day in London?

Tap in with a contactless card or phone and the daily cap in zones 1 and 2, which cover all ten of our hotels, is 8.90 pounds, with a Monday to Sunday cap of 44.70. A zone 1 Tube single is 3.00 off peak and 3.10 at peak, and a bus is 1.75 with an hour of free changes. A day with a Heathrow journey in it is a zones 1 to 6 day, capped at 16.30.

How did you choose these hotels?

Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.

More ways to choose in London

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Prices are a guide from our last check, not live rates.