We stayed here as my fiance had friends coming over from Ireland and needed a base to travel to the sights of London which was cheap. We arrived early on the Saturday morning and they kindly stored our rucksacks whilst we went off trying to find the friends. The staff were very helpful. We didn't opt for an en suite room just a room with a double bed which was rather uncomfortable but to be expected. There are lots of shower rooms and toilets around and you will find a sink in your room for the basics. Breakfast was lovely a nice fry up. You dont have individual tables but have to grab whatever available seat is available. It is about a 3 minute walk from Kings Cross tube station so very handy. The area was quiet as it is off the main road. Overall not a place I would normally stay but for the job at hand i.e. travelling round London and having a few hours sleep it does the job.

Pros: Location, Price? (cheap but terrible value for price)

Cons:
They lie about storing your luggage on day of arrival and departure, they don't even have a place to store it.
Staff is very rude, and being polite to them does not change that. They even blamed me for the ash clouds over Europe because I am from Iceland, and they did not sound like it was a joke.
You have to reserve a time slot for breakfast which is 30 minutes. What they don't say is that if you don't arrive at the beginning of the time slot then you get nothing. Which is probably for the best because the breakfast is terrible. And even the waitress in the breakfast basement does not know how to be polite, it must be something in the food there.

We booked the room many weeks in advance. When we arrived the room was being painted! The receptionist told us it was ok because it was a special paint that did not smell. It did smell, and was wet of course. All the staff was very surprised that we would complain about this, they said they were painting the room specially for us! Almost made me laugh. We had to kick out the painters when we wanted to use the room.

I could keep on counting, but you get the picture. Stay away unless this is the last available hotel in all of London.

I stayed in the Princess B&B over 2 periods - 3 days in May and 3 days in June with a friend. To be honest, I have never stayed in a non-ensuite room while travelling overseas and princess B&B was the first; I was naturally apprehensive.

During my first leg of the stay, my friend and I got the basement room and it was rather uncomfortable for me. The room was a double twin room and very small, even for London standards. There was a window which looked out into some work shed (no view) as well as the bathroom. If you look hard enough, you can actually see into the bathroom. The room was abit dusty and I do doubt that the sheets were actually clean. The shared bathroom in the basement was not renovated (so it looked a bit run-down) but it was mostly in decent, clean condition. The walls were paper thin so you pretty much can hear every single conversation uttered by your neighbours.

For the second leg, we got a triple room on the second floor. It was a less claustrophic experience; the air was less musty. Somehow I felt the room to be slanted and I got a headache the first 2-3hrs I was in the room. I am guessing the flooring wasn't exactly straight! The bathrooms were on either side of the corridor and they were newly renovated. Again, the bathrooms were mostly in very decent clean condition. The bedsheets did not seems particularly clean to me and the bed wasn't the most comfortable in the world either.

Saying all of that... I think its really a matter of what you paid for. We paid 50pds per night per room and this is most definitely a bargain compared to the hotel prices in London, not to mention it is just 2mins walk from King's Cross! After a couple of nights there, I started to ignore the negatives of the B&B. It was just a place for me to crash after a day of sightseeing and shopping! The staff aren't exactly 5-stars service people but they are always willing to help when you need them to.

One last thing, the cleaning staff actually threw away some shopping bags of mine that I left on the floor. There were some things in there (thankfully those that I can do without). I was quite upset about this but did not pursue it with the hotel.

PS: ENGLISH BREAKFAST WAS GREAT AND GENEROUS!!! YUMS!

We arrived at 12:00pm and were told the room wasn't ready and they weren't sure when it would be. Check in time says 12:00 pm and onwards but he couldn't even guarantee that it would be ready by 2:00 pm. They were able to hold our bags for us so we could go sightseeing and fortunately it was ready when we got back. There is no lift and no one to help bring up luggage. Stairs are tight and windy. The room we stayed in was a quad (1 full size bed and 2 twins). That pretty much took up the whole room. Any empty space on the floor was occupied by our luggage so there was a lot of climbing on beds. But watch out because the twin beds roll around. The room was clean but old. Defintely needs an update. The bathroom looked clean but smelled of mildew so badly. It was overwhelming. We made sure to leave windows open and the bathroom door open when we left so it aired out a bit. I guess the breakfast is a traditional English breakfast but I wouldn't know, I just didn't enjoy it.

Pros: Proximity to St. Pancras and to the tube, staff was friendly and free internet.