Thistle Victoria

Dark, gloomy, awful. Rubbish toilets. There are places to sit on a Saturday afternoon because it’s an awful place. No table service that I could see and bar abandoned after a few minutes. Hall porter actually brought to bar by one customer to point out absence of any staff whatsoever.
If you want to sit down and have a rest for 30 minutes without being disturbed, OK, but to be avoided in my book. I don’t mind paying the price for a decent drink served in a friendly fashion, but this is NOT the place. Almost as expensive as the Waldorf and not a patch, not a patch, on it. I dread to think what they could achieve with a cocktail.

I stayed here once with work as my normal hotel was full & it’s a convenient location at Victoria station. It is the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in, except the other Thistle hotel down the road.
My room was huge but filthy, a particular highlight being the torn & stained sofa & the blue plastic marble effect bathroom. It also took about 20 minutes to find the room as the hotel appears to have various levels within levels — not great after a long day dragging a suitcase along! This was after waiting 20 minutes to check in as the hotel seems to boast the world’s slowest computer system ever. A similar joy was repeated on check-​out in the morning.
The only redeeming feature this hotel has is it’s champagne bar which is great, but my recommendation is to stay in the Hesperia or Park Plaza & just visit the bar if you’re that bothered, & these hotels are equally close to victoria station.

Despite the corporate rebranding (this was formerly the Harvard Bar in the Grosvenor Hotel), this is still a reliable place to meet near Victoria station if you want to avoid the crowds.
Even at the height of the rush hour in the adjacent Victoria station, you can usually find a seat. The Bar itself is darkly wood-​panelled, with comfortable seats and sofas. There are entrances to the hotel both on Buckingham Palace Road and from the station concourse itself.
The staff are pleasant and helpful, and as well as drinks, serve light snacks and sandwiches. There’s no real ale, however, and the prices are what you would expect for an upmarket hotel in central London (ie eye-​wateringly expensive). But, of course, you are paying for the ambience, and sometimes it is worth escaping the madding crowd.