Belsize Park Apartments

NOT a self-catering facility. This is advertised as a self-catering place, however the kitchens and stove are so small it is impossible to do much more than boil an egg in there. We had some problems with the room we were first given, so were moved to another room (without any problems), but I noticed that both kitchenettes had insufficent ventilation. In fact, both rooms we tried had insuffient ventilation and/or air conditioning. Although fans were provided on request, these weren't enough to get the air moving in these stuffy rooms. You would think with Britain getting several hot summers in a row now, people in the tourism industry would start thinking about air conditioners. But you get the feeling that's not what BPA is about. It was the same ventilation problem with the bathrooms and shower cubicles too, leading to moldy smells, which are a health hazard should any mould spores enter the lungs. I had to direct the fans into the shower cubicle most of the time in order to try and tackle the mould smell. I mentioned this to the receptionist, who was nice enough most of the time, but nothing was done. Belsize Apartments are two houses in Belsize Square that have been hastily divided into many tiny units. Not a lot of thought has gone into their conversion leading to these problems and more. Other minor things are no shelves or places to put soap in the shower. In one room, the shower cubicle and toilet are in one room, the sink is in a seperate room, and there is no toilet roll holder either. The house cleaning was excellent though. In the end, as there were no other places available in the area we stayed. But ended up eating all of our meals outside, which took a lot more time out of our day while we were house hunting in the area (not to mention the added cost of not being able to cook food in the room). Belsize Park Apartments will certainly do in an emergency if there's nothing else free, but given the price (approaching £150 per night, it seems they charge according to what they think they can get out of you), you certainly won't be getting value for money. The location is an idillic leafy garden suburb with a short walk to main transportation links in one direction and shops/cafes in another, with no parking except in the evenings and weekends.