London Vacation Blog

London hotel, vacation and city guide

Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury Refurbished

Posted in Hotel news by admin on the November 29th, 2007

The Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury has just concluded its sleek, new reception, lobby and Junction bar revamp. Located at Coram Street WC1 and only five minutes from Eurostar’s new St Pancras international terminal, the 310 room hotel is now up to speed with its fashionable and modern look.

The Junction Bar bestows an additional place for guests to dine, enjoy cocktails or grab a snack. The accessible bar provides a quiet substitute the hotels Irish bar, Callaghan’s, for those looking for a more calm, contemporary night out.

The updated Lobby and reception area has also been given a stylish look that coincides with Junction Bar. The room has been seemingly enlarged and celebrates London art icons with the artwork that is hung around the space.

The fantastic, new fangled hotel can also house the business minded with its Academy. The specialized Academy boasts self contained meeting, conference and banquet facilities, complete with 14 suites, which can accommodate nearly 450 guests comfortably.

The Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury has also been praised for its handicap accessibility and proudly received the Best Disabled Access Award in 2007. This well rounded and well situated hotel is located across from Kings Cross and Euston stations and the Russell Square Tube, enabling guests to whisk around the city at a moments notice.

Eurostar says Hello St Pancras!

Posted in Hotel news by admin on the November 12th, 2007

Eurostar has almost completed the new London home for its high-tech, fast-paced train system. Wednesday, November 14, 2007 sees Eurostar move from Waterloo to Kings Cross St Pancras.

On November 13, the last arrivals and departures to and from Waterloo International will come to a halt. Over night, Eurostar will be changing its location to St Pancras International - its new home. The new station is at a better site, right in the heart of London. It offers a faster Eurostar with enhanced connections through the United Kingdom and Europe. On average, Eurostar will be more than 20 minutes quicker to each place. For example a trip from the new St Pancras, London station to Paris will be 2 hours and 15 minutes compared to the current pace of 2 hours and 35 minutes. A journey to Brussels will go from 2 hours and 15 minutes down to 1 hour and 51 minutes and a ride to Lille, now 1 hour and 40 minutes, will be cut down by 20 minutes.

The Eurostar services project will expand in 2008 but for now the High Speed 1 line with its six underground lines and five train operators serving St Pancras, King’s Cross and Euston will do.

The new St Pancras station is located in London’s Zone 1. London Kings Cross hotels (or should that be St Pancras hotels?) are plentiful and tend to be on the budget end of the hotel price scale. From Kings Cross St Pancras you can get to most central London locations in only 20 minutes.

Eurostar also calls at brand new station Stratford International in the east of London. Hotels in Stratford London are scarce but we expect more to come with the new terminal and upcoming Olympics.