Camden Rooms

I stayed for 1 night in a women's-only dorm on the top floor with private toilet and shower, during a heat wave. This was also my 1st hostel stay. I was pretty happy considering it was just £24 near central London. Breakfast included was nice to have - choice was some cereal, some tinned fruit, yoghurt, toast, and some hot drink options. Crockery was dusty but gave it a wipe and it was fine. My bed was on the 2nd floor up 2 flights of stairs - normally that is OK but I wouldn't recommend in a heat wave, I am very glad I had the foresight to bring a fan with me which I set up in my bunk and had going the whole night. There was a larger fan in the room as well provided by the hostel, but it didn't do much. Proper lockers were available but no padlocks, you need to bring your own. Looking at pictures of other dorms, it looks like some rooms have wire lockers under beds so I'm not sure if this will be the case for every room. Shower room was fine, small bits of mould in crevices but nothing major, same with the w/c. Shower curtain smelled pretty bad but I'm not there for the shower curtain, only needed to use it once for a few mins. There was only a hot tap in the w/c which became scalding quite quickly, making it difficult to wash hands, face, and brush teeth. No towel - although even if there was one I'd have used my own anyway. Checking in was good, the two guys were nice. Checking out was weird, the guy behind the bar supervising breakfast was chatty with other guests but when I asked him a question he did not say a word, only gestured. I asked if he could put ice in my water bottle, so he took it without saying anything and put ice in it. I later asked if he wanted me to leave the access card by the desk and he silently gestured for it, stone-faced, immediately after chatting normally with another guy. It felt very strange.