London's Great Northern Hotel
 

So, last weekend was our wedding anniversary. Rather than struggle
back to the South Coast late Saturday night, I booked us a room at the
Great Northern Hotel. For any that might find a rail related hotel
review here goes:
Pros: The restoration job is beautiful. It has been tastefully
accomplished using quality materials. Our room was beautifully
finished with an inlaid carpet, in a wood surround. Our bathroom
floor was tiled. The plumbing in our room was excellent with ample
hot water.

The electrics in our room were especially impressive. There were
plenty of lamps, the main one being on a dimmer. Moreover, there are
more than sufficient 13 amp outlets. We have stayed in hotels were we
needed to move the bed in order for me to plug in my CPAP machine. No
such problem at the Great Northern. Our room had its own thermostat.

The bed was a (UK) King-size (US Queen). But it was very comfortable.

The staff were polite and helpful to a fault. Perhaps most surprising
was the complete absence of noise. We were after all at Kings Cross
Station!

Cons: The complimentary breakfast was close to non-existent. The
Spilt Milk and Plum Restaurant was not available, to hotel guests,
having been booked for a function. So we had to use the pantry
adjacent to our room. There was bread, not even a croissant or bagel.
The selection of fruits was green apples and red apples. There was
one cake.

Expresso and tea were available in abundance, :-)

This may be a good choice for someone visiting London, it could hardly
be more convenient for transportation. And, before the UK language
police start havering and whining misc.transport.urban-transit is an
intrnational group.

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 17:24:25 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at
08:44:47 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015, Railsigns.uk
remarked:
There can't be many people who feel inclined to comment on the
excellence or otherwise of a hotel room's plumbing

Or its supply of hot water. I've only stayed at two hotels (out of
several hundreds) which ran out of hot water.

The first was in Maidenhead in around 1980 and had suffered a one-off
major outage of some kind. The other was Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009 where
no-one appeared to be that surprised that the system had broken down yet
again.

Given how well travelled you are, Roland, one is surprised you have
not noticed the quality of the mains pressure water systems found in
those United States. One of the things that attracted me to my unit
here on the south coast was the absence of the usual low pressure UK
plumbing. My shower here works as well as my shower in Tucson. That
is hardly the norm for the UK.

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:03:11 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 17:24:25 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at
08:44:47 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015, Railsigns.uk
remarked:
There can't be many people who feel inclined to comment on the
excellence or otherwise of a hotel room's plumbing

Or its supply of hot water. I've only stayed at two hotels (out of
several hundreds) which ran out of hot water.

The first was in Maidenhead in around 1980 and had suffered a one-off
major outage of some kind. The other was Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009 where
no-one appeared to be that surprised that the system had broken down yet
again.

Given how well travelled you are, Roland, one is surprised you have
not noticed the quality of the mains pressure water systems found in
those United States. One of the things that attracted me to my unit
here on the south coast was the absence of the usual low pressure UK
plumbing. My shower here works as well as my shower in Tucson. That
is hardly the norm for the UK.

Maybe the fault of the plumbers rather than the showers; not all
showers are designed for lower pressures (or sometimes the pipes
feeding them) and the thermostatic and non-return valves now required
possibly make the difference even more critical.

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

On 11/22/2015 9:47 AM, e27002 aurora wrote:
So, last weekend was our wedding anniversary. Rather than struggle
back to the South Coast late Saturday night, I booked us a room at the
Great Northern Hotel. For any that might find a rail related hotel
review here goes:
Pros: The restoration job is beautiful. It has been tastefully
accomplished using quality materials. Our room was beautifully
finished with an inlaid carpet, in a wood surround. Our bathroom
floor was tiled. The plumbing in our room was excellent with ample
hot water.

The electrics in our room were especially impressive. There were
plenty of lamps, the main one being on a dimmer. Moreover, there are
more than sufficient 13 amp outlets. We have stayed in hotels were we
needed to move the bed in order for me to plug in my CPAP machine. No
such problem at the Great Northern. Our room had its own thermostat.

The bed was a (UK) King-size (US Queen). But it was very comfortable.

The staff were polite and helpful to a fault. Perhaps most surprising
was the complete absence of noise. We were after all at Kings Cross
Station!

Cons: The complimentary breakfast was close to non-existent. The
Spilt Milk and Plum Restaurant was not available, to hotel guests,
having been booked for a function. So we had to use the pantry
adjacent to our room. There was bread, not even a croissant or bagel.
The selection of fruits was green apples and red apples. There was
one cake.

Expresso and tea were available in abundance, :-)

This may be a good choice for someone visiting London, it could hardly
be more convenient for transportation. And, before the UK language
police start havering and whining misc.transport.urban-transit is an
intrnational group.


Perish the thought.

--
Myth, after all, is what we believe naturally. History is what we must
painfully learn and struggle to remember. -Albert Goldman

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

On 11/23/2015 4:07 AM, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:03:11 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 17:24:25 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at
08:44:47 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015, Railsigns.uk
remarked:
There can't be many people who feel inclined to comment on the
excellence or otherwise of a hotel room's plumbing

Or its supply of hot water. I've only stayed at two hotels (out of
several hundreds) which ran out of hot water.

The first was in Maidenhead in around 1980 and had suffered a one-off
major outage of some kind. The other was Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009 where
no-one appeared to be that surprised that the system had broken down yet
again.

Given how well travelled you are, Roland, one is surprised you have
not noticed the quality of the mains pressure water systems found in
those United States. One of the things that attracted me to my unit
here on the south coast was the absence of the usual low pressure UK
plumbing. My shower here works as well as my shower in Tucson. That
is hardly the norm for the UK.

Maybe the fault of the plumbers rather than the showers; not all
showers are designed for lower pressures (or sometimes the pipes
feeding them) and the thermostatic and non-return valves now required
possibly make the difference even more critical.

I'm with that: my shower works fine.

--
Myth, after all, is what we believe naturally. History is what we must
painfully learn and struggle to remember. -Albert Goldman

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

In message , at 18:03:11 on
Sun, 22 Nov 2015, e27002 aurora remarked:
There can't be many people who feel inclined to comment on the
excellence or otherwise of a hotel room's plumbing

Or its supply of hot water. I've only stayed at two hotels (out of
several hundreds) which ran out of hot water.

The first was in Maidenhead in around 1980 and had suffered a one-off
major outage of some kind. The other was Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009 where
no-one appeared to be that surprised that the system had broken down yet
again.

Given how well travelled you are, Roland, one is surprised you have
not noticed the quality of the mains pressure water systems found in
those United States. One of the things that attracted me to my unit
here on the south coast was the absence of the usual low pressure UK
plumbing. My shower here works as well as my shower in Tucson. That
is hardly the norm for the UK.

Yes, there are many hotel showers which don't deliver their hot water at
high pressure, but that doesn't bother me.
--
Roland Perry

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:03:11 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 17:24:25 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at
08:44:47 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015, Railsigns.uk
remarked:
There can't be many people who feel inclined to comment on the
excellence or otherwise of a hotel room's plumbing

Or its supply of hot water. I've only stayed at two hotels (out of
several hundreds) which ran out of hot water.

The first was in Maidenhead in around 1980 and had suffered a one-off
major outage of some kind. The other was Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009 where
no-one appeared to be that surprised that the system had broken down yet
again.

Given how well travelled you are, Roland, one is surprised you have
not noticed the quality of the mains pressure water systems found in
those United States. One of the things that attracted me to my unit
here on the south coast was the absence of the usual low pressure UK
plumbing. My shower here works as well as my shower in Tucson. That
is hardly the norm for the UK.

It is attractive until the day the mains water system ceases to flow
into the premises for whatever reason - planned/unplanned.
My late sister-in-law's house was mains-only and it was not a happy
solution - add being coupled to a combi boiler and the water system
was useless.

Guy Gorton

How often does that happen? I've never had that happen to
me/my house.

London's Great Northern Hotel
 

In article ,
Guy Gorton wrote:

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:03:11 +0000, e27002 aurora
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Nov 2015 17:24:25 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at
08:44:47 on Sun, 22 Nov 2015, Railsigns.uk
remarked:
There can't be many people who feel inclined to comment on the
excellence or otherwise of a hotel room's plumbing

Or its supply of hot water. I've only stayed at two hotels (out of
several hundreds) which ran out of hot water.

The first was in Maidenhead in around 1980 and had suffered a one-off
major outage of some kind. The other was Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009 where
no-one appeared to be that surprised that the system had broken down yet
again.

Given how well travelled you are, Roland, one is surprised you have
not noticed the quality of the mains pressure water systems found in
those United States. One of the things that attracted me to my unit
here on the south coast was the absence of the usual low pressure UK
plumbing. My shower here works as well as my shower in Tucson. That
is hardly the norm for the UK.

It is attractive until the day the mains water system ceases to flow
into the premises for whatever reason - planned/unplanned.
My late sister-in-law's house was mains-only and it was not a happy
solution - add being coupled to a combi boiler and the water system
was useless.

A family member who works in the renewables sector laments the vogue for
combi boilers. A hot water tank provides a useful way of decoupling
supply and demand when energy sources are intermittent.

Sam

--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

I can well believe that water industry professionals dislike the
widespread abandonment of hot water tanks, but in a country
where new homes (and rooms within homes) become ever smaller,
hot water tanks take up too much space.