London

It was Peckham Lodge in London and it was absolutely awful. They led us down to a basement where our room was, the toilets and bathrooms (which were communal) were dirty, mouldy and had no locks on them. The floor was all coming up, electric sockets were hanging off the wall, there was dirty laundry and rubbish bags piled all over the place, there were holes in the wall, the communal kitchens (for people who stay longer than a night) were thick with dirt and the whole place stunk like it had gone off. It was dingy and horrible and I am sure it was a bail hostel as there were signs up like ‘no visitors after 11.30pm and all guests must report to reception by 10am for the register and No drink or other substances allowed in the hotel, etc. We felt totally unsafe.

We went to reception and asked for our money back only to be told that as we had already paid and a receipt had been issued they would not give us a refund. We totally kicked off and threatened them with the police, trading standards and environmental health. We told them we had photos and they would be closed down and after 20 mins of arguing till we were blue in the face (all the while a big beefy guard was stood near us trying to intimidate us) we finally won and they gave us our money back.