London with kids (11, 9 & 7) is all about location for us and this apartment is it.
- Grocery: All the grocery stores close early on Sunday but luckilyTesco Express is open until 11 pm. Able to buy milk, cereal and fruit for breakfast. I felt very safe walking 10 minutes to store at 9:30 pm by myself. Proper grocery store is Sainsbury, which is about 350 m away (or 4 NYC blocks) so not far.
- Shopping: In heart of luxury shopping; walking distance to Piccadilly Circus and Lego Store in Leicester Square (a must);
- Playground: 12 minute walk to Hyde Park, which has two playgrounds (there was a 3rd temporarily set up for the Summer in Hyde Park festival)
- Subway: closest subway stop is Green Park or Oxford but we also used Piccadilly - not super close but kids didn't complain so to me, that's close enough
- Restaurant: a few doors down from Guinea Grill (fancier restaurant, could take kids, no kids menu) and 80 steps away from Coach & Horses chain pub (also took kids but no kids menu) & Pizza Express is across the street (casual)
- Accommodation: 11 year old slept on sofa, 9 & 7 year old shared the air mattress (made up for us already by housekeeper), we had double bed in master but kids had to come through our room to use the bathroom
- Cooking: kitchen looks newly renovated and has essentials like coffee, sugar, bread & milk but we never cooked
- Comfort: it was a warm week in July so we had windows open the first night. Big mistake because the garbage trucks seem to come nightly between 1 am-3 am and the sound of glass bottles emptying into the truck woke up the kids. When we closed the windows and turned on the fan, the kids slept through the night thereafter.
- Laundry: washing machine in the bathroom and detergent was provided. Hang clothes to dry.
- Other things to note: 2 flights of stairs to the apartment, shower knob hard to turn on and off and kids needed help. It's in a lively location with a pub a few doors down (closes at 11 pm).
- Bottom line: We could not ask for a better location and kids had a really good time. Even though it says one bed in the listing, a family of 5 stayed here comfortably. It's not a big space but served us well.