We were looking for a nice, quiet and reasonably priced hotel for a visit with our daughter in London. While we've stayed in some hotels in downtown areas, many of the hotels are either too high priced, in a "dodgy" area, or funky/not well maintained. We are not afraid of going further afield nor of riding the Tube, so when we stumbled across Heatherbank, we decided to give it a try-- what a great choice. Jackie Patel, family, and staff run this boutique hotel in North Finchley, not far from the Woodside Park tube station on the Northern line. The hotel is on a quiet street, about 500 meters from the Tube station and about 200 meters from the High Street with shops, restaurants. Jackie was not bothered at all when we arrived at 1130 at night, nor with our need to sleep in the next day! The hotel is a set of old houses that they have been refurbishing very nicely and the rooms are filled with cool old touches like scalloped ceilings, beautiful woodwork, etc. Full breakfast is included-- pretty much anything you would like! The hotel also features a huge backyard that we would have loved to have used when we traveled with kids (but in the summer, it looks like it would be an oasis to rest in, too). Parking is a bit tough in the area, but there are spots available in front of the hotel (we just tubed it-- about 25 minutes to King's Cross). Some folks would find that too far, but we figured it was a small price to pay for a great hotel at a reasonable cost.
Bathrooms are small, but functional and clean-- and equipped with instant hot water for showers. A little noise from people coming and going, but not much more than you'd have at any other hotel
Downsides? not many that I can think of... Would be great if they'd move a few hundred meters closer to the tube (just kidding!). Not a lot of nightlife around (a few pubs), but we're not really into Discos and all-night partying anyway. They are upgrading mattresses and had not replaced ours yet, but it needed it. Despite these would we stay there again? You Bet!