A Google search for London accommodation brings up 15,000 results. So, how do you choose where to stay in London, especially if you are looking for accessibility?
Many travel blogs/websites recommend staying at Covert Garden/West End, City of London, Southwark/Southbank, and Kensington/Chelsea.
But… After A LOT of research, we chose to stay at Hammersmith. Why did we choose this relatively unknown area of London to stay?
Read on to find out about why we chose to stay in Hammersmith, as well as our review of the Premier Inn London Hammersmith (Shepherd’s Bush Road).
Why DIDN’T we stay in popular parts of London?
Unlike several other capital cities, London doesn’t really have a single “central” area to stay in. Instead, you’ll find lots of districts spread across London with different accommodation and attraction options.
Where to stay really depends on your style of travel and what you want to see and do when visiting London. Do you want bustling nightlife? Are you wanting to be close to big attractions? Do you want something more trendy with cute cafés, art/culture, or quieter residential feels?
However, a lot of the “where to stay in London” guides are written for non-disabled travellers. Therefore, we found that many of the areas recommended in these guides weren’t suitable for us in the wheelchair.
Covent Garden/Soho/West End
All the reviews I read about this area were that it was “buzzing” and popular with tourists.
Pros
- central location
- family friendly
- close to theatre district
- good nightlife, restaurants, and café options
- good range of hotels, including many boutique-style hotels
Cons
- it is touristy
- this area is older and has a lot of cobblestones
- the tube stations in this area have limited accessibility for wheelchairs
Southwark/Southbank
Located on the south side of the river, you’ll find attractions like the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, and Borough market in this area.
Pros
- Great riverside walks
- Beautiful views across the Thames
- Close proximity to some key attractions
Cons
- Hotels in this area tended to be more expensive
- this area was across the river from most the attractions we wanted to see (Westminster, Kensington, Piccadilly)
- tube stations in this area are not overly wheelchair accessible
City of London business district
Although it is a business district, there are quite a few things to see in this area. For example, high-rise observation decks such as The Shard and Horizon 22; London Fire Monument; Tower of London; and St Paul’s Cathedral.
Pros
- Close proximity to CBD for business travellers
- Close to several key attractions
- Business hotels tend to be newer, larger, with good accessibility
Cons
- You are staying in the middle of high-rise city buildings
- Being a business district, the area is dead at night and on weekends, with limited options for restaurants and cafés outside of business hours
Kensington/Chelsea
This area is popular due to its proximity to museums, parks and gardens, and palaces.
Pros
- Close proximity to Kensington Palace, museums, gardens, and Westminster (check out my previous posts on London walking tours and rainy day in Kensington).
- Lots of gardens, open spaces, and nice architecture
- Considered one of the safer parts of London
Cons
- Quite expensive area to stay in
- Tube stations in this area are not wheelchair accessible. Earl’s Court is the nearest.
Why we chose to stay in Hammersmith?
After much research, including speaking to several London locals, we decided to stay in Hammersmith.
Location
Approximately 6km west of Central London, Hammersmith is just outside the main “tourist” area of London. Surrounding areas include Notting Hill, Kensington/Earl’s Court, and Putney.
Hammersmith is located on the northern bank of the Thames.
Transport options
Hammersmith is a main transport interchange, linking central London with West London districts. So, this was a huge selling point for us.
The tube/underground station at Hammersmith is step-free access from street to platform on District and Piccadilly lines. This meant these lines provided direct lines and step-free/mini ramp access to main tourist areas such as Westminster and King’s Cross.
The train ride from Hammersmith into central London is around 20-30 minutes. This might seem a little far out, but if you stayed in other areas of London, you would spend that much time navigating other types of transport or walking due to inaccessible tube stations. Also, the ride into the city was very relaxing for us, as we didn’t need to worry about accessibility.
Hammersmith also has direct lines (Piccadilly line) to Heathrow airport. The price of airport transfers for wheelchair accessible vehicles was crazy (up to £300) – therefore it was cheaper and easier for us to catch the underground out to Hammersmith when we arrived in London.
Hammersmith Broadway (the shopping centre above the underground station) also has a major bus terminal and taxi rank, giving you plenty of transport options.
Price
Accommodation in Hammersmith tends to be mid-range chain hotels.
Being outside of the tourist centre, prices in Hammersmith were at least half the price of other more central areas. For example, we paid £115 per night for an accessible room in Hammersmith. For a comparable room in Southbank, City of London, or Kensington, the price was over £300 per night.
Since we were only planning on really sleeping at the hotel, this was a great price.
Vibe
Hammersmith is one of the first residential suburbs of London you pass through as you head west outside of the central tourist district.
Hammersmith is not picture-postcard pretty. The buildings are newer, mid-rise, and residential. But, the river is quite pretty, and there are a few green spaces scattered throughout.
Hammersmith does still have an urban feel, but much less touristy and busy than central areas.
This area is all about function and convenience, with everything you need nearby.
Modern, smooth pavement
Hammersmith, being a transport hub, has lots of modern pavements.
I found the foot paths to be reasonably flat, smooth curb cut outs, and traffic light crossings that were easy to use. This is particularly the case close to the Broadway station/shopping centre, with some slightly rougher pavements as you got further away.
Along the river, there are some flat pavements, although getting down to the river from the station we did go through a few bumpy little narrow streets.
Restaurants, cafés, and things to do
Hammersmith has quite a lot of food options. For example, you’ll find fast-food style places like Nando’s, cafés, local pubs, Mediterranean eateries, and Michelin star restaurants. These are mostly located within Hammersmith Broadway and nearby streets, or on the river.
We had a delicious dinner in Hammersmith with an old friend at Sam’s Riverside. This is a fine dining restaurant with views of the Thames. I had scallops and they were amazing!
Another favourite of ours was Kave. This café is vegan certified and had delicious vegan breakfast, baked, and drink options. There were also quite a few gluten-free options. The ground level has some seating that is wheelchair accessible, with more café down a spiral staircase into the basement.
Hammersmith is not famous for “things to do”. However, it is nice to stroll/ride along the riverfront. Plus, we just caught transport into central London for the main attractions.
If you are looking for some entertainment, you can visit the Apollo theatre, home of many comedy and other theatrical performances.
Other services and amenities
London was our first stop after 20+ hours of flights from Australia. We therefore wanted somewhere with a few amenities in case we needed them.
Hammersmith had several laundromats within 5-10 minutes, which was handy given we were staying in London for several days.
There was also a large Westfield shopping centre at Shepherd’s Bush, only 7 minutes away. This was perfect in case we forgot anything and needed to buy it, we needed a chemist, or any other supplies.
There were also quite a few hardware stores within 10 minutes. On several previous trips, we have needed to find a hardware store on day 1 after bits of wheelchair or equipment has been damaged during the flights. Plus, dad the builder loves wandering through hardware stores.
Thankfully we didn’t need these things, but it was reassuring to know they were close by.
Premier Inn London Hammersmith (Shepherd’s Bush Road) review
It is worth noting that there are actually 2 Premier Inn hotels in Hammersmith, not far apart from each other.
We chose the Shepherd’s Bush Road hotel, as it was closer to the underground/bus stations (under 100m away), Hammersmith Broadway restaurants/cafés (also under 100m/1 minute walk), and the river (10-minute walk).
Booking process
The booking process for an accessible room was extremely easy. In fact, we were able to book everything online via the website.
There was the option to choose accessible room, with further options for shower over bath versus wet room/roll-in shower. You could also choose between King or twin beds.
Accessible room
I had read in previous reviews of Premier Inn hotels that many wheelchair users liked this chain because of the accessibility features and huge rooms.
This accessible room did not disappoint in terms of size. It was huge! There was plenty of room for me to move around in the wheelchair, as well as store all of our luggage.
The room itself is nothing fancy, it’s a nice general hotel room. You’ll find basic tea/coffee, TV, beds, and bathroom. If you upgrade to the Premier plus accessible room, you get a mini fridge (handy for storing medication) and ultimate Wi-Fi.
The beds were super comfy which was a bonus. These were about 480-520 mm high, although we did need some blocks under the bed to fit the Hoyer lift under it.
The bathroom was also very spacious. The wet room was easy for my shower commode. However, I can’t really comment on grab rails, reachability of taps et cetera, as these are accessibility features that I do not need to use with my disability.
Lighting was quite good in these rooms. There were a lot of lighting options, with bright lights overhead, reading lights, desk lights, and even mood lighting (Premier inn purple themed) above the bedhead.
I also found the heating (central heating) to be very good. The wall panel was easy to use to dial up the temperature, and the room got warm quickly. Although, the panel is a little high for a wheelchair user to reach easily.
Reception area and corridors
There was flat/slight sloped entry with automatic door into the reception area from the street.
The reception area is reasonably small, with a few seats and a small desk. The reception staff were very helpful and friendly. There was a small vending machine and some toiletries available to purchase from reception.
We stayed on level 3. The elevator was okay size – we could fit my wheelchair and 1 or 2 other people. We had to do a few trips with luggage up the elevator.
The old building did have a lot of heavy timber doors between reception and our room. We had to go through at least 3 heavy doors on our way to our room, around a bit of a bendy entrance to the elevator. This meant someone had to hold doors open for me, and it was tricky to get heavy luggage through. I would assume that someone in a manual wheelchair might find these doors difficult to hold open.
Breakfast/restaurant
Downstairs/attached to the hotel is the Bar + Block Steakhouse. There is an interior door and small ramp from the reception of the hotel. There is also street access Into the restaurant.
At breakfast, there is the option of purchasing a continental or cooked breakfast buffet. The food was very fresh, with lots of variety.
The staff were wonderful. They checked for any allergies/intolerances and were able to provide an entire booklet of ingredients/allergens. For gluten-free options, they were able to cook toast to order and had several cereal/granola options.
Dinner has an à la carte menu. But there were also quite a lot of share plate options, which we opted for, and that included a variety of charred meats and vegetarian grills.
Overall impressions
Hammersmith is not a tourist destination, but we really enjoyed our stay in this area. We appreciated the quieter atmosphere, but also the ease of accessibility to public transport options.
Ratings
Wow Factor: 2/5. It is nothing pretty or spectacular, but it had a really nice feel.
Cobble index: 4/5. Modern flat pavements made getting around very easily. Only a few exceptions closer to the river in older areas.
Barrier free barometer: 4.5/5. Excellent access to multiple types of public transport. The Premier inn hotel had a fantastic accessible room.
Want more?
Don’t forget to check out my related London blog posts:
How to See London City Highlights in a Wheelchair