Choose by the station you arrive at. The Pilgrm, the cheaper of the two, is two minutes from Paddington and the Heathrow Express, with small rooms and no air conditioning; The Standard, London is two minutes from Eurostar, with Decimo facing St Pancras, and suits late nights.
The smart moneyTwo minutes from Paddington, in Victorian townhouses, with the front desk replaced by a café and the savings put into the rooms.
£From about £184 a night
Choose The Pilgrm if
The catch
No air conditioning anywhere, only fans, which tells in a heatwave.
The design oneA 1970s Camden council block turned design hotel, with a red lift up the outside to a tenth floor facing St Pancras.
££From about £250 a night
Choose The Standard, London if
The catch
The Standard King Interior has no windows at all, and it is the first room on the hotel's own list.
| Best for | The Pilgrm | The Standard, London |
|---|---|---|
| Best design hotels in London | On the list | On the list |
| Best value hotels in London | On the list | On the list |
| Best central hotels in London | On the list | On the list |
| Best hotels with a view in London | Not on the list | On the list |
| Best hotels for food and drink in London | Not on the list | On the list |
The PilgrmThe Standard, London
The Pilgrm
The Standard, London
The verdict
Choose by the station you arrive at. The Pilgrm, the cheaper of the two, is two minutes from Paddington and the Heathrow Express, with small rooms and no air conditioning; The Standard, London is two minutes from Eurostar, with Decimo facing St Pancras, and suits late nights.
Questions people ask
Choose by the station you arrive at. The Pilgrm, the cheaper of the two, is two minutes from Paddington and the Heathrow Express, with small rooms and no air conditioning; The Standard, London is two minutes from Eurostar, with Decimo facing St Pancras, and suits late nights.
The design budget went into the building here, and the savings came off the rate. Book a Comfy, ask for the back of the house, and accept that the room is for sleeping. Design-led and deliberately stripped back: the money went into the building, the beds and the salvage, and came off the rate and off the facilities. A city base rather than somewhere to spend the day, in a Victorian house that could not be anywhere but London.
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.
The Standard earns its place on the building, the lift and the tenth floor, and on a King's Cross address you can walk off a train into. Pay up to the Premium King View and accept that the quiet parts of a hotel are not what this one is for. Design is the whole argument here, and so is the address: a saved Brutalist block two minutes from Eurostar, with the restaurants and the bars stacked at the top of it. It is loud, it is photographed, and it has no spa or pool at all.
There is no pool. There is no beach; the nearest is a drive away.