Clink 261 Hostel

7.6

Very Good

500 Guest reviews

7.6

Very Good

500 Verified Reviews

Read all reviews

Cleanliness7.4/10

Service8.0/10

Comfort6.6/10

Condition7.2/10

location8.8/10

Neighborhood8.2/10

Amenities7.4/10

The hostel is about a 5 min walk to St Pancras and Kings Cross Stations. As a solo female traveller I felt safe walking to and from the stations and hostel. There’s a small co op right beside the hostel and a costa coffee on the other side, a Salisbury grocery is only 3 minutes walk away. There are a lot of dining options within a few minutes walk from the hostel. I stayed in a 4 bed female only dorm. At 5ft 10 the bunks were too short for me and the mattresses were absolutely terrible. Huge divot in the middle of the mattress. Very tight space. There was a ton of hair all over the floor when I first checked in. I’m not sure if that was because I was first to check in and did early check in and the housekeeping staff didn’t fully clean it? Slightly run down but all in all it’s not terrible. If the mattress was even halfway decent I’d have given the hostel a higher rating. Good atmosphere.

Lovely hostel

I stayed in a pod and it was one of the better hostel experience i had. The pod provides a lot of privacy and ample sound proofing. The pod is also large enough to fit me (188cm, 6'2'). The common facilities could be cleaner. the bathroom and the showers are quite cramped for a large person like me. the area is very convenient located next to king's cross station.

This was a late night booking where I needed last minute accommodation. I appreciate that hostels have a time limit for check-ins, but if that is known, why allow the booking to be accepted? Paid for the room but was not allowed to check-in due to it being late at night; I accept partly that's on me, but was anxious to find somewhere and not be left in the cold. Staff were sympathetic, but couldn't let me stay. Not impressed with the site at all and lost my money.

Good for simple stays.

All good

Not the fanciest place to stay but for the price you can’t go wrong. Perfect location for getting around London.

Extremely limited personal space.

Good: great desk staff, and amenities like washer&dryer, toiletries and snacks for sale. Great location near St. Pancreas/Kings Cross. Bad: You can barely fit your body between the rows on beds, back to back. If you are on a bottom bunk, you cannot even sit up in your room. Bathroom is so small and the shower is always dirty (from heavy use.) Literally no place to put on clothes or sit down to tie shoes. And very crowded even in October. I’m a 50yr old female who stayed in a mixed gender room. It basically smelled like feet, mostly from young men. I have stayed at many many hostels throughout my life. I don’t mind sharing space, but I need enough room to turn around and sit down. This hostel doesn’t meet that requirement. I will not stay again.

Nice

Very basic accommodation, a bit dirty.

Excellent location for Kings Cross and reasonably priced.

Going the extra mile by the staff to make stay stay comfortable and enjoyable.

Room was smaller than anticipated but bed was comfortable and bedding was very clean.

Great in many ways

Small bed, my feet hung off. Very public if you're on top bunk. Very hard to get into top bunk, when someone is, it shakes the entire row of beds. Sounds wasn't an issue with plugs. Shower nice. EVERYTHING is an optional extra : towel, shampoo, padlock for locker.. etc.

Affordable

Very welcoming staff and great breakfast and communal facilities.

Great stay in a fun and clean hostel environment. Clean common areas including bathrooms and showers, free luggage storage when we left on a side trip for a couple days. We, as 2 adults and our 10-year old, stayed in the 4-bunk private room during both stays. The room was cramped and we kept hitting our heads from the lower bunks, and it didn’t have AC (did have a fan). Regardless, I would stay here again and look to stay at more hostels in the future.

Everyone and everything was perfect.

Pod in mixed dorm

Nice service. Friendly atmosphere. Pod gave me good intimacy, however, the bed was a bit hard and pillow too thin. A better air conditioning system is needed as it tends gets too hot in the pod in the summer. Shower floors were a bit dirty as well

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

Good

I really enjoyed the ambience of the property, though I didn't stay very long. I'd definitely consider returning here though - it seems like this place really places a high value on community which I appreciate

Excellent kitchen facilities.

It’s good for taking early train in king cross.

Period and quirky; great age mix in clientelle - all over 18 appear to be welcomed and children if with supervising adult. Great bunch of staff, keen to make you feel at ease, with events, chats, social activity or equally keep a courteous distance if it looks like you want to be alone.

Well located capsule hostel

Well located and clean hostel.

Very good location. Convenient transportation via bus, subway and train. Lots of dining options.

Good cost-effective stay

Friendly staff, great breakfast, hostel bed as expected.

The best low budget option

Stayed at Clink a few times and it's always a good experience, it's clean, calm and very friendly.

The location was great but the rooms were dirty and I didn’t feel safe on in the hostal

This might of been my 4th time staying at this hostel. Its very convenient place if you need to catch a early train. The station is only about a 2min walk from the hostel. There are plenty of good pubs and restaurants close to the hostel. The staff are friendly and helpful. The hostel is really affordable for the location.

Great place to stay. I’ve been staying here for years. Location is perfect and very affordable. Staff is always helpful and friendly.

Only stayed for one night so it was grand for what I wanted, but the pod was absolutely roasting. I had to have the little fan on the whole time but it wasn’t enough and I also had an issue with another guest complaining about the sound of the fan. Other than that, the pod was fairly spacious, two different lights, one for reading and one for ambience which was great! Staff were all extremely friendly and helpful too! The only thing that would keep me from staying here again is the heat issue

Hostel was clean and welcoming. Bed was confortable and sturdy. Shower was clean and hot. Staff were helpful and friendly. 5 mins walk from Kings Cross/St Pancreas with local co-op next door and vood food options close by. Good transport links. Would happily stay again.

A spooky location and not so clean

If all you need is a basic bed for the night this place will do. Room felt a bit like a prison cell but its a hostel what else can you expect. Showers were clean but lack anywhere to put your clothes whilst showering.

Really unsafe. Rooms were poorly lit and ventilated. No proper air conditioning so was uncomfortably hot each night. Would not return again and do not recommend to anyone looking for a cheap stay you can find safer accommodation elsewhere.

The hostel is located right near Kings Cross station and the Russell square area. Which is a convenient part of London. The staff are helpful and hospitable. The hostel has a good kitchen and common area. Over all its definitely one of the better hostel in London that I've stay at over the years. I will be returning again soon.

I liked that it was affordable, within reasonable distance of almost anywhere you’d want to go, and seemed relatively safe. I liked that instead of key cards, you are given a code, which means one less thing to keep track of. I did not like, however, that showers were not in individual/lockable spaces, and within the shower cubicles there wasn’t much space to put clothing/toiletries/towels/etc without it getting drenched by the time you finish showering. But overall a good experience, better in most respects than many other hostels in the area.

Nice place, great location

Friendly, clean, great location, short walk from King’s Cross. Room tiny but cheap to stay there

Friendly staff, decent stay

Very friendly staff. Every bunk has its own personal plugs which is something that its hard to find at other hostels. The room was tiny though.

I have tried a handful of hostels in London, I can say this is on the top of my list so far.

Great location near Kings Cross. Staff friendly. Self checkin is rubbish- takes ages (need to type in your licence ID etc.- then it didn’t work. Ah well. Showed are little all-in-one fibre glass things- they have a shelf for shampoo but the shower curtains are gone. Bunks are laid out like a concentration camp- people laying on each side of you with just a short partition. Stacked three high. Lucking I was on top with an open skylight above. Good sized lockers assigned to each guest, but typically, only a few tiny coat cooks to share.

Love this hostel!!

I love this hostel. Beds are great, price is amazing, location is superb. I take all the money I save on lodging and spend it on the theatre!!

It was a good hostel to stay in for one night,the staff are so friendly and helpful.I met some lovely people in the same dorm room and got a decent night’s sleep.Good atmosphere and vibes

Lovely friendly service when I arrived.

Bugs in bed

USB socket in my bed didn’t work ,room of 18 people in bunk beds. There was a bug on one of the beds (I will add a photo).

The staff cares about our safety. They were kind and the cleaners kept the whole place clean. I’d stay here again for sure

Great location. Nice safe. Very small rooms. Be prepared to get very friendly with your sharers.

Clean

Would stay again

Fast checkin. It was not too noisy. Felt secure. Cleanliness was lacking in showers. No shower curtains, clothes were soaked during shower.

I stayed in a 18 bed dorm. The bunks were side by side rather than end to end. There were some partitions between beds but they didn’t extend to the ends so there was a lack of privacy, don’t understand why they don’t put partitions end to end. Mattress was very thin but still reasonably comfortable. Natural light was from skylight with no blinds so you might be woken by early light. Everything seems clean including sheet and duvet cover which were soft and good quality. There was a small stain on the sheet, but if that kind of thing bothers you then you shouldn’t stay at a hostel. There are loads of lockers bring multiple padlocks. Two USB ports for each bunk and a reading light. Most hostels provide free tea and coffee, this one has a machine in the kitchen serving hot drinks for 50p. Toilets and showers very small but manageable. I didn’t notice any bad smells, and the areas were cleaned regularly. There seems to be someone at reception all night for your safety. The location is great, everything you could need is nearby.

Disabled, booked and paid for, refused entry

Horrible experience booked while traveling to London got to the hostel to find even though I had paid and booked the room twice I had no booking. Reception were desperately scrambling for any reason to not allow me to stay inc no driving license or passport (I’m uk native) in end left the hostel instead of staying and I have now had to travel back to Coventry It seem the hostel would prefer to leave a disabled person out on the street despite having paid for my accommodation. I travel to other cities and have never had this situation in any other city I have stayed at,even at very short notice

Needs to be cleaner.

The room was mostly clean, but there were some bits of litter under the bed and a used face mask in the wardrobe. The showers were dirty - hairs in the plug that were still there the next day / lights not working / a blocked toilet with faeces floating around... not great. Common area was nice and the service was friendly. They need to up their cleanliness though.

Nice staff, good location but the bathrooms...

Host and location were great. The lounge and front desk look good, but the rooms themselves are nothing special: spartan vibe, like army barracks or hospitals; mostly filled with beds. Which is ok if you care about the location and you want a cheap place to sleep with nothing fancy. The bed was clean and comfortable enough for me. It's very close to King's Cross where you have trains and underground. London Liverpool Street station is less than 30 min away via the tube. You have buses and bike stations near the hostel as well. There's a COOP store right next door; small cafes & restaurants, corner shops and fast food chains towards the train station. Tesco and Saintsbury are like 2 streets away. Central London is easy to reach, the British Museum being pretty close to the hostel. They have a kitchen, so you could cook to eat cheaply. You can work on your laptop or just chill in the lounge. I haven't had issues with the WiFi. What disappointed me was the bathrooms. They are not great to begin with, but the night I arrived, the boy's bathroom on the first floor was disgusting. It still smelled like piss after I asked them to clean it next the day.

Close to St. Pancras and the British Library

Close to St Pancras station. As I had an early start to go on the Eurostar this was close enough for a reasonable price. Originally I was put in a room in floor 3 that had no ladies bathrooms. When I asked for a change of room they did this quickly. The rooms are small so us travellers with lots of luggage had space issues. At least there was a lockable underbed box to store my valuable items. Also the lift was essential to avoid the problems that I had with my luggage in Amsterdam .

Unprofessional, lazy staff

The room was cold. Receptionist don’t know what to do with some basic reservation change...

Overall amazing stay loved the guests and the staff only issue was breakfast isn’t free so that’s the only thing

Liked that it was close to train station and bus stops. Cooking facilities were welcome.

Great for a cheap one or two night stay in the city. Good transport links,nice kitchen facilities, bedding reasonably clean.

Good start to holiday!

It was just one night prior to catching train at St Pancras station. My colleague and I were more than impressed.

Unfriendly arrogant staff

Small and dirty rooms

Clean rooms, pleasant staff. Location is great as only 3 minutes wslking distance from train and tube station. It does what says on the tin.

Ok for the price, but the place needs more mens toilets. The first morning there was a power cut in the kitchen, so no lighting, and !imited choice, but all was OK the second morning. Quite a good breakfast in fact!

The best Youth hostel in London . Great staffs ,amazing cleaning Just the mattress need to be different but They're are not too bad Extremely happy there

Okay but not sleep

Was okay. Bed was a bit hard and couldn’t sleep due to snoring person next to me but what can you expect for next to nothing

Tony L.

Thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Staff always attentive, helpful and caring. Demetri recognized me from my last stay when I checked-in last Monday, May 6. Only one small negative note: for a hostel which accommodates so many persons there is rather a shortage of loos and showers. But now my no 1 hostel for ANY stay in London, if available. Highly recommended. Tony Lowes.

One of the best and most convenient hostels I've stayed at in London. Great location. Clean safe and has almost all the basics. There is storage under beds, own lock needed. Kitchen for self-catering but a big let-down is no basic free breakfast. Also, no oven or grill/toaster but everything else is there. Greatest plus was the staff. The shaven-headed young night receptionist was especially helpful. I will be using this hostel for all future London visits for now.

Great.

Great hostel

This is a great hostel! The location is great, conveniently located after arriving on a late flight. Brilliant train and tube connections. I have stayed here a few times and Matteo on the front desk is brilliant at his job.

The location is good not far from Kings cross station. The storage under the beds are big enough but the room was a bit small for 10 people.

Great service

This was my second stay at Clink 261 and the customer service I received was great. As before, it was clean and a great location being central to shops, public transport and eateries. Really good value for money. Will be booking for my next trip.

The staff were friendly. The dormers were cool as well except for this one middle aged man who just when he starts falling asleeps ends up waking eberyone else due to his abnoxiously loud snoring.

Fantastic

The Hostel was amazing, and bear for a train station and bus

Suoer slow check in, “I don’t care” staff

Unfriendly staff, school kids making noise on the corridor, staff answer: thats fine

I could not sleep as the room was smelly and extremely hot, and there was a lot of rude guests in my room

If you’re traveling to meet people in your hostel and explore with them don’t count on it. Everybody checked into this hostel is definitely over 40 and probably living there because they have no where to go (in my room there was a 67 year old women from Spain and a 58 year old man from Argentina). Very creepy vibe to it. The staff was not friendly or helpful. They act like it’s a fun place but there’s literally nothing to do. You go downstairs there’s a kitchen and a common area with a tv and again all older people who don’t want to give anyone the time of day. I got a 6 person room and it was VERY small and no blinds for privacy. The room got insanely hot which lead to us opening the window but since we were near the street you hear traffic all night and it doesn’t end. The only good thing was they let you go to Clink 78 which socially (and after meeting people I saw some of the rooms which were beautiful) was 100x better atmosphere everyone was younger and wanted to hang out, cool themed nights and just a lot of fun.best parts of this was the location of the hostel and that’s probably the only good part about it.

Was pleased with overall service. Staff courteous and very helpful. I am elderly and all staff were attentive and helpful. Recommended.

First hostel stay ever

A pretty good introduction to my first hostel stay ever! The floor space in the room may be a little small with everyone's suitcases but no big issues. Bathroom is outside the dorm room and it is pretty small but clean enough. I like that there are charging ports including USB on every bed. Kitchen area also pretty roomy. Walking tour was great! Location was close to Kings Cross station which makes it easy to find from Heathrow airport.

Nice short walk from subway. The showers are too small though and the room was very hot. Cant complain otherwise

Best hostel yet

Friendly check in, clean rooms, well equipped kitchen, nice lounge. Really quiet in my 18 bed room, big lockers, nice bunk. Great experience, thank you.

Uncomfortable to stay

The hostel's location is convenient, but room & other facilities are far too small, not convenient to stay

without the air-condition it's freaking hot inthe day time, it's okay in the night but still hot.

I loved that the hostel is only few minutes from Kings Cross/St. Pancreas train station and the awesome French bakery is steps away from the hostel as well. I wasn't a fan of the fact that there was no girls' bathroom on the third floor, my sheets were never changed (was there 11 days), and some of the staff members seemed to be a bit aloof.

Clise ro british library and tube.

STAY AWAY!

The worst night of my life. I paid for a week, but left after one night for a better hostel. Rooms are disgusting and smelled of puke with no window to even open. Shower was disgusting with condom wrapper in the corner. When I told them I couldn't stay a second night and why the front desk girl rolled her eyes as if not that surprising and told me I had to pay for the whole booking. I didn't push it any further, but then she wanted my key back immediately. I really had no reason to keep it, but I asked why and she said so they could go ahead and rent out the bed even though they are making money off of it from me. I kept the key and returned it at the end of my stay. Location and desperation are the only reasons to stay here, but you will probably be cleaner sleeping in an alley.

One Night in Clink

I always love staying in this hostel!! Its lovely beds and really inviting from outside plus usually so cheap and really perfect location being so close to the Kings Cross and St Pancras stations too!! I usually stay on my own but I brought my mum along this time too and she loved it too!!

stayed one night

youre gonna get what you pay. Not that bad but still nothing specially good.

Convenience, place to stay.close to station. Quite safe place for a single backpacker to stay.

Poor stay

Bed was too small! Customer service not good.

Busy hostel with people coming and going all the time. Only problem I had was people who had decided to change rooms were in and out of the room till about 0100 movi g their stuff.

Terrible!!!!

Extremely messy!!! Heater wasn't working in the room. Lots of noise after midnight. Lots of people in a small room.

Terrible

Extremely messy!! Everything is bad. From the bedrooms till toilets and showers.

No comfort at all!!!

Terrible rooms, terrible toilets. Extremely messy, the heater in the room wasn't working.

thank you for a great stay

convenient location. very happy with the service. will return.