Since I haven't seen a recommendation for the LSE dorms posted by anyone who has actually been there, I would like to pass on information based on my week-long stay stayed at Bankside House and Passfield Hall.
Overall:
The atmosphere is, well, dorm-like. Plywood furniture, endless white painted walls, common rooms with a sterile quality to them. The bathrooms are the tiniest you've ever seen, but clean. There are few shared rooms, which have a sterile quality to them but are functional. The breakfast included in the room rate is much more substantial than most hostels offer.
Unfortunately for travellers, the most common guests at the dorms are youth groups on cultural exchange programs, or an occasional student interning in London for the summer. Combined with the very bland atmosphere in the few public rooms, this means there is almost no opportunity to meet other travellers.
The facilities are on the whole fairly quiet, but of course that will depend a lot on the behavior of the other guests, especially the youth groups, during your stay. Fortunately you will have your own room and a door to close.
The staff are accustomed to regular dorm residents, and aren't much help for travellers, but can offer some minor assistance or directions.
Bankside House
Bankside House is huge and fairly impersonal. Getting to your room will probably involve finding your way through a maze of bland white hallways. In the summer it especially caters to the largest of these youth groups which can be noisy and overwhelm the common rooms. It does offer both breakfast and dinner (included in the room price). There are a couple of computers that can be used for internet access (at £1 for 30 minutes--highway robbery). The kitchens are locked and not accessible during the summer months. The location is superb, directly behind the Tate Modern, with a bus line 1 block away providing access to the Tower of London to the east or Covent Garden to the northwest.
Passfield Hall
Passfield Hall is a much smaller and cozier facility, but it still a bit dormlike. It has recently been remodelled which makes it feel nicer than Bankside. Passfield is a collection of rowhouses surrounding a lovely private garden, which would be even nicer if there were chairs or benches for you to sit on and enjoy it. As it is, you can only walk through it, or sit on the ground. But there are several very lovely squares on either side of the hall (Gordon Square and Tavistock Square) to enjoy. Only breakfast is served at Passfield Hall. The computers can't be used unless you have an LSE ID and password. There is a kitchen, as advertised on their website, but they do not have any utensils or cookware, and will remove any if left behind. So unless you have a stockpot and a ladle in your backpack, the kitchen won't be of much use. There is a laundry room on site for guests to use (£1,60 to wash; £1 to dry).
Overall, the LSE accommodations leave much to be desired for the budget traveller. But if the choice is a bunkbed in a hostel dormitory, or a hotel room costing three or four times as much, LSE is a good place to stay in London.
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<hr>The location is superb<hr></blockquote>
Place tell us where you can get better for the price? What did you expect? - its student accommodation.
And where can you get cheaper internet access in London? I'd love to know
I stayed a few years ago in King's College Hall near Denmark Hill and Dulwich. I didn't like it. It was a big old building which was nice. The rooms were very basic and the kitchen was very small and had sour people in it, though there was full access to the big old library room. It wasn't clear if the plates and pots etc. were provided or some persons owned them, I think it was the latter.
The breakfast cost extra and I didn't like it. There was a big hall as a common room though this was nearly always empty.
If travelling with other people, it would be O.K. or fine. (I stayed in the Strahov Halls of Residence in Prague when with four others, and that place is much worse than King's College Hall but it was fine because it was just somewhere to sleep and recuperate and we were very active.)
Some Halls of Residence, in London or elsewhere would be good for meeting travellers, though you would need recommendations.
Generally they are fine if you are going to be active, but aren't great places to spend your time in. You might as well make the most of the time in London anyway, and if doing so and happy to stay budget, why stay in an expensive hotel where you will only be resting, making tea or coffee or sleeping?
Generally for meeting people, go to a youth hostel. You can get private rooms in most, though they are around one and a half times the cost of halls rooms in London.
I stayed in The Rosebery street LSE 2 years ago and thought it was pretty terrific for the money (30e). I had my own room, access to a terrific bathroom, a kitchen- not well supplied with cooking implements but I managed pretty well and saved a lot of money on meals- a good laundrey and a garden. There was also a bar. I met some great people and there was certainly a range of ages, including English people from the country in london for a few days. No tour groups.
That one was near Islington and I thought it would be good to stay somewhere different next time, so thanks for the info. I notice all the accommodation is in quite accessible areas of London.
The University of Westminster offers single and double rooms in the summer- they do a discount for students at any university which makes it absolutely dirt cheap.
What you get is a room with a bed. In a location to die for.
Pretty much all university halls (what the North Americans call dorms we call halls of residence) are as described by the OP. I worked one summer at the Edinburgh Metro SYHA (actually Edinburgh University halls of residence) where you can get a single room in the heart of Edinburgh for about £20. People still complained about the sterile nature of the place. The OP has a good point- if your aim is to meet people, a single room in a place without a common room is not a good idea, whether it's a hotel or a hall of residence or whatever.
In reply to #1---The primary purpose of my post was that no one, that I have seen, has been able to describe what these places were like to stay in. Your reply indicates you think I am in some way contradicting a previous review of these accommodations. To the best of my knowledge I am not. To date, I have only seen recommendations for LSE based on price alone. Perhaps, rather than simply criticizing my description, you could add your own description based on your own experience.
As for cheaper internet access, I saw many internet cafes and the going rate seemed to be £1/hour--half what Bankside House was charging. Across Tavistock Square on Woburn Place is one such internet cafe. The advertising I saw at all the easyInternet cafes was also £1/hour. There was also a very brightly colored and busy internet cafe, operating 24 hrs, I believe on Tottenham Court Road, but I can't remember its name--also £1/hour. Like I said, £1/hour seemed to be the going rate. Again, please feel free to offer your own personal knowledge, rather than just criticizing someone else.
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