Thistle City Barbican Hotel

I have been to London dozens of times and this is by far the worst hotel experience I have ever had in the city. Rated on their website as being a 4 star the Thistle Barbican shouldn't even have one star. 2 star hotels near Paddington and Bayswater are a way better deal. The customer service was pathetic. The people were rude, not helpful and unable to even patch a simple phone call through to my room properly. In fact they harassed the caller. The walls were paper thin, little or no hot water, the mattress was clearly over 20 years old. The... more

First time at this hotel...I got a deal on last minute for £59 for a twin room with full english, which was actually a great price for London standards.. Rooms were clean and comfortable (liked the idea of a mini ironing board!) Had some confusion in the restaurant on my first night as paid for a 3 course meal package which included a glass of wine - I asked the waitress what the wine options were as part of the package - when the bill came they tried to charge me extra for the wine..waitress was nowhere to be seen but we managed... more

The poor reports about this Hotel are totally unfabricated. Its really nice hotel and the Hotel Staff are really friendly Would recommend this place to anyone and everyone. 5 mins from Tube station and as for the intimidating buildings. you are in the4 middle og a big city ffs. What do expect Thatched Cottages

I ended up staying here after being bumped from the Thisltle Euston (that's another story!), I was put in a cab and taxi'ed across town to the City Barbican. On arriving, the modern reception area was an impressive sight. The queue at reception was terrible taking at least 30 minutes to check-in, the poor english and knowledge of the check-in staff didn't help things. While standing in the queue I witnessed many people complaining about the state of their rooms in the older block opposite the main block, and one guy complained to... more

This hotel struggles, and mostly fails to provide an acceptable level of service. While in general it is survivable, I stayed there only because of proximity to my business office. Examples of ineptness: they moved my belongings from one room to another, but forgot to take all of them. Remaining clothing returned from lost property, all scrunched up in a plastic bag, not even hung up. Bathroom fan malfunctioned - stayed on all the time, nobody available in the evenng to fix it - resulting in a sleepless night. Called room... more

The hotel has two buildings; unfortunetly I was in the building across from the reception/restaurant area. I was informed that the rooms in the main building are much nicer?? My room was small, dingy and hot. No A/C but it had a fan..otherwise the heat would have been unbearable. The room was clean enough but the decor and furnishings had not been updated for many years. Had I been staying longer than 3 nights I would have checked out after seeing the room. The hotel is not in a great area either however it suited my business needs.... more

- The address of this hotel claims it is Clerkenwell. It is not. It is very close though (it's deliberately misleading) - The surround area looks awful. However, it is in a very good location - very central with excellent transport links. Just for 30 seconds to City Road, where you can get virutally any bus to Angel tube station (takes 3 mins by bus). From there you can go anywhere, pretty fast. Angel is great for shoppping, bars etc. (Angel has a Marks and Spencer, Sainsburys, Toni & Guy, Nandos... everything. From Angel there are... more

We stayed at the Thistle City Barbican for four nights and were welcomed by a very friendly staff. The room was small but clean, all appliances were functioning (tv, hairdryer, shower etc) The Breakfastbuffet is good with quite a wide variety, for extra 6GBP you have the possibility to upgrade from a continental to a traditional british breakfast. The Hotel pub is very comfortable and the prices for drinks reasonable. Free newspapers are available at the reception every morning. The Thistle City Barbican is approx. 10-15min footwalk... more

We ended up staying at the Thistle Barbican on the weekend of Live8 as our hotel at Hyde Park had over booked! I thought the hotel was great - friendly staff, clean rooms, air conditioning definitely worked, good breakfasts etc. The area is not the best to be walking around in - but then there really is not much to see around the hotel so you would probably just hop in a taxi or the tube to go see the sights etc . Although I would have thought there would have been some restaurants/bars - couldn't find any I would want to go... more

I was much misfortunate to stay at this hotel in early July. The worst hotel I ever stayed in!! First, on entering the room I discovered it has high-speed Internet access but no hot water!! The hotel managers seemingly truly believe that ---- is much more basic need than hot water with that hot summer in Londodn! When I asked at the reception they retorted me that I am just stupid and do not know how to sue hot water unit. After my pressure, by the evening, some lukewarm water appeared at the washing but no water at all was in the... more