Keep expectations low. If you are staying one night, it may be just fine. My friend and I booked a private room for 4 nights.
Common space / kitchenette- I want to say its nonexistent. There are two wooden benches at the check in desk, but other than that (or the bar attached) there was no where to hang out or kitchenette space. Moreover, my friend and I went to the next door bar with our dinner to eat, and were told by staff we couldn’t bring outside food in there. Yet, this appears to be the only “common area” , and so instead my friend ate her dinner on a wooden bench at the reception desk. Awkward and uncomfortable.
We checked in early, and asked if they could hold our bags. We were told to go downstairs to a locker holding room. Number 1, no one ever told us we’d have to pay to store our lockers. 2, they only took coins which they didn’t tell us in advance so we were back upstairs to get change. The stairwell to the locker room smelled of terrible sewage and had rat traps everywhere. The locker room was damp and smells of mold. The check in staff were not at all friendly as you’d find in most hostels. The one positive experience was that when the HEAT in our room BROKE (in December in London) and we complained about the cold, eventually a staff member brought us a heater. No disability access here also, lots of stairs.
The location is great, close to the shard, borough market and London bridge.
Rooms- the private room was smaller than pictures and had no private bathroom as with many other hostels. We were tucked into this weird corridor next to a maintenance room (with workers drilling open the floor at all hours. The bed sheets were stained, there was a cigarette burn in the comforter, and there was lint and fuzz and little shirt hairs on the sheets. Felt really dirty. One bathroom had a Showerhead that spewed water everywhere and the bathroom floors were eternally soaked. There was also most often urine and more hairs all over the toilet seats. Maintenance once daily signed a cleaning check in sheet, but these bathrooms clearly needed more than once daily check ins , they were gross.