Premier Inn London Leicester Square Hotel

The Premier Inn’s Leicester Square location features a basic entry situated in a plain white building that it shares with other business on the street. Its entryway is flanked by decorative columns and covered with the Premier Inn’s trademark purple awning. Inside, a tiled floor leads guests to functional areas of the hotel, including the on-site restaurant, a small welcome desk, travel brochures, and two computer stations that facilitate an easy check-in. Hallways throughout the hotel are clean and basic with purple and cream-colored walls and purple carpeting. Given the hotel’s location near London attractions, this property is geared toward tourists who want a comfortable place to stay, but will likely spend most of their time exploring the city.

The Premier Inn is ideally located in the heart of Central London’s tourist area on busy Leicester Square in the West End theater district. Its entrance sits on an alley directly off the square, and the building shares the street with a night club, eateries, and a theater. The tube station is only a one-minute walk from the hotel (as is the popular M&M store). Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square are each only five minutes away on foot. In twenty minutes or less, guests can walk to Buckingham Palace, the Palace of Westminster, or The British Museum. Sightseers would be hard pressed to find a more convenient location for this price. There’s no on-site parking, but a nearby car park is available for an extra fee.

• One-minute walk to Leicester Square tube station
• Three-minute walk to Chinatown
• Five-minute walk to Trafalgar Square
• Five-minute walk to Piccadilly Circus
• 13-minute walk to The British Museum
• 18-minute walk to Palace of Westminster
• 20-minute walk to Buckingham Palace
• 20 minutes to Tate Modern by public transport
• 25 minutes to Tower of London by public transport
• 35 minutes to Heathrow Airport by car (One hour and 15 minutes via public transport)
• One hour to Gatwick Airport by car (One hour and 15 minutes via public transport)

Like the common areas, rooms at the Premier Inn are tastefully decorated, clean, functional, and well-maintained, if not generic and simple. Cream-colored walls meet gray wall-to-wall carpeting, while rich purple accents pair well with natural wood furniture. Single, double, and family rooms are available, and while accommodations are fairly big for a central London hotel, they’re smaller than the typical Premier Inn rooms. Rooms come stocked with electric kettles for making tea and coffee, flat-screen televisions, work desks, hairdryers, extra pillows, free Wi-Fi, and air-conditioning. Comfortable beds are one of the Premier Inn chain’s main selling points, and guests say they are cozy even though this location doesn’t feature the chain’s trademark king-size beds. Rooms have no mini-fridge, telephone, or in-room safe, and guests say the free Wi-Fi is slow (premium Wi-Fi costs an extra charge). Bathrooms are neutral and compact with beige floors, white fixtures, and beige walls, but wet-room style showers are surprisingly roomy and comes equipped with soap dispensers. Rooms are astoundingly well-insulated from the sounds of busy Leicester Square. Guests should note that the windows don’t open, and that few rooms offer very interesting views.

The Kitchen is the hotel’s own restaurant, and it’s tastefully decorated with striped rugs and chairs and brown wood tables. A drink area offers beer and wine by the bottle, Costa coffee, and Twinings tea. There’s a full dinner and lunch menu as well as a buffet breakfast, which doesn’t come standard with the room rate, though kids eat free and guest find the food satisfying, with a large selection and fair prices. The front desk is open 24 hours.