My wife and I spent two days at the Grainstore Apartments in London's Docklands and they were very nice indeed. The staff were extremely helpful especially as we turned up on the morning all the roads around ExCel and that part of Docklands were closed for a big cycling event. They helped us get in to the Grainstore Apartments and unload our luggage despite the severe restrictions outside.
Check-in was fast and efficient and made without any fuss. The apartment we had was spotlessly clean, well-equipped and tastefully furnished. There was plenty of room and everything was of real good quality and especially value for money compared to some of the tiny little rooms you get in 2-star hotels in central London for the same price.
I'm sure the apartments would be much more expensive if there is a big exhibition on at ExCel but outside of that these rooms are great value for money.
Yes, you need to take the Docklands Light Railway ( DLR) in to London to see the sights and it can take up to 45-50 minutes from leaving the apartment to get up to say the museums and shops in Knightsbridge and about 25 minutes to the Tower Bridge area. We took the DLR up to town and then took the Thames Clipper river bus back to Canary Wharf which was a very good service and if you have purchased a day card for the Tube then you get reduced ticket prices for the river bus.
The apartments may not be the ideal location for central London but you do at least go back to a really nice room rather than something poor for the same price up in town.
There are a few decent restaurants literally just steps away from the Grainstore and close by there are more in the Canary Wharf area about 5 minutes on the DLR.
The drawbacks are that the rooms do not have air-conditioning so they do get very stuffy indeed and the Wi-Fi is less than reliable. The connectivity was poor and the signal continually got lost so service was pretty inconsistent which might be important if you were staying for a few days or a week.
Parking if you are bringing a car is in a multi-story car park about 100 metres away but they do let you park outside for a little while to load your luggage when you arrive and depart.
Finally be warned the noise from planes taking-off from nearby London City Airport (less than a mile away) can be hellish. Our first night we didn't hear a thing as it would appear the planes were taking off to the east so going in the opposite direction from the apartments but the second day they were taking off to the west and were right overhead and very noisy as a result.
Overall these apartments are very well kept and superb value for money if you are prepared to stay a little out of town.

We moved to the Grainstore Apartments following a trip to the English country side. We booked via a last minute type of site and recieved quite a good rate however it was all down hill from there! It was impossible to contact the apartments to seek any info prior to arrival. We had requested an apartment with NO stairs as my husband had hurt his back we arrived to find a double story apartment connected by a spiral stair case! We tried to contact the apratment managers but couldn't ( there is no representiitve on site)so rang the original booking agent to be told that they had called the apartmetn agents who had said it was too bad about the stairs and that there was a 100% cancellation charge if we were to move.
Finding the apartments was very difficult. We had look for the 'blue door' in our instuction however the entire row of buildings had blue doors! it is on the DLR which takes you off the London underground and while it was easy enough to get into London it did take a long time, about 30-45 minutes.
The apartment it was very clean however it is difficult to use the washing machine, the TV has very bad reception (which is also affected by the apartments being under the London City airport flight path!) and the internet was slow and unreliable. The main corridor on the building smells VERY badly of wet carpet and the light sensors for the long corridors are sometimes slow to respond so you can find yourself walking along the corridor in the dark before the lights activate! This a long with the complete lack of WAY OUT signs (which is via the lift on the second floor) led to a scary 15 minutes on the first night feeling like we were in the 'twilight zone'.
The area has quite a few nice restaurants however lacked the atmosphere of inner London.
We stayed our 6 nights put it down to experience then left!

After a very brief stay at a very cramped/stuffy London hotel, this place was just what we needed, and was more like the Ponderosa. Apartments are spacious/fairly new & spotless. Although the location is a little awkward, the tube is handy, and with just one change, you are in Waterloo in a matter of minutes. Staff accepted our (excess) luggage 2 days prior to our moving in, just so we could visit further afield. When we got to the apartment 2 days later, our luggage was in the unit waiting for us. This sort is service is unheard of from our previous experiences, and greatly appreciated.