It's better to travel out of London a bit to stay. I've just eaten in the restaurant of a new hotel which was offering rooms for the night at £45. I don't know what they're like, but probably, from the look of the place, standard ensuite double rooms with TV, hot drinks etc. Not characterful, but the food is definitely good. There's lots of this sort of thing, catering for business during the week, but cheaper at weekends. This one is part of a cluster about ten minutes from a station which is 45 minutes from the centre of London. It's not a great location - the bridge view isn't a patch on San Francisco's - but it shows you can do things cheaper. And out further there's bed and breakfast places, which are characterful, and even cheaper, and you get to know the people.

Penny