The catch at The Pilgrm

Every room page on the hotel's own site lists the same absence: aircon, with fans provided in warm weather. The sustainability page goes further and frames it as policy, saying the hotel does not provide air conditioning units in its bedrooms because it believes they create more damage than good. MICHELIN's own write-up says the same thing in fewer words, no air conditioning here, and files it under low-tech comforts alongside the cast-iron radiators and the opening windows.

For most of the year that is fine, and the windows open. The mechanism that hurts is a July or August heatwave in a Victorian terrace with 7 to 14 square metre rooms and a busy street under the sash, when opening the window trades heat for noise. That trade is the one the design forces, and the hotel's own answer to it is a fan. There is no upgrade that fixes it, because no category has cooling.

The hotel publishes the sizes itself. The Bunk averages 7 square metres with two stacked singles and no television; the Nook, sold for one adult only, is 7 to 10; the Snug is 12 with a 135 by 190 centimetre mattress, which is a standard double; the Comfy is 14 with a 150 by 200 centimetre king or super-king. No category has a bath, a desk, a minibar or a telephone. MICHELIN says even the largest rooms are smallish by London standards, and guests rate the rooms lowest of all, below the cleanliness.

For 9 to 11 February 2027 the Comfy was 219 pounds a night prepaid, about 16 pounds a square metre; the Bunk at 159 pounds is nearer 23. The FAQ adds that there are no extra beds because the rooms are very compact, and that the hotel cannot guarantee space to store your luggage.

London Street is the working run between Praed Street, opposite the station, and Sussex Gardens, and it has pubs on it. Every room has an opening window and none has air conditioning, so in warm weather the window is open and the street is in the room. The front of the house faces the street; the back of the building faces away from it, and guest feedback points to the rear as the quieter side. Which side you get depends on what is empty that night unless you ask early.

The building is the other half of this. The FAQ says the old Victorian building contains lots of stairs and small, winding corridors, that wheelchair access is not offered, that there are stairs at the entrance and within some of the corridors, and that no room has step-free access. The rooms are spread over three floors and five wings, so expect stairs somewhere between the café and your bed.

The hotel's two rates are both labelled room only in their own terms: the prepaid rate is the best room-only rate, non-cancellable and amendable up to three days before arrival, and the flexible rate is the most flexible room-only rate, cancellable until 3pm the day before with payment taken a day before you arrive. Breakfast is in The Lounge upstairs off the brunch menu the hotel publishes: the Pilgrm cooked breakfast is 16 pounds, avocado and eggs 15, the bacon butty 11, a flat white 4. A 12.5 percent discretionary service charge goes on the bill and the lounge takes cards only.

Two people eating the cooked breakfast with coffee are therefore adding about 45 pounds a morning to a 219 pound room, which is a fifth again. The hotel's lead-in prices, Snug from 129 pounds and Comfy from 159, are annual lows rather than dated rates, so the number you see before you pick dates is not the number you pay.

The hotel's own about page describes arrival: there is no lobby or reception desk, and you collect your keycard at the ground-floor café counter behind whoever is buying coffee. Check-in is online, through the kiosk the site links from every page. The rooms page lists what the hotel does not have, and the list includes doormen, bellboys, valet, turndown, room service, a business centre and vending machines. Pantries on each floor cover tea and coffee, and filtered water is free in the café.

Food has its own gaps. The Lounge on the first floor runs 7.30am to 10pm from Tuesday to Saturday but closes at 3pm on Sunday and Monday, and the evening kitchen is a residency, Duda Diner from 17 September to the end of December 2026, serving only Wednesday to Saturday from 5.30pm to 9.30pm. The food-and-drink page also warns that private events occasionally close the lounge. Dinner in the building is a four-night-a-week proposition, and a reservation is recommended when it is on.