Hotel Strand Continental and India Club

A recent trip to London for a show also became a wander down memory lane.

Before the show I went for a curry at The India Club Restaurant on The Strand close to Somerset House.

The food was good and refreshing different. For example, I had some Chilli Bhajias to start, which I had never had before but will definitely have again.

I had eaten there many times before but mostly breakfasts.

Above the India Club is the Hotel Strand Continental where I stayed for a few months when moving up to London twenty five years ago.

The hotel's location was good, I was coming in to Waterloo and working in Holborn, but what really swung it was the price. It was about £13 a night.

Even then that was cheap and the hotel was very basic. And I mean basic. There were some weeks that I put the mattress on the floor as the bed just caved in under the slightest weight.

The rooms had no facilities, not even a clock, radio or wash basin. The equally basic showers were along the corridor.

Breakfast was two slices of lightly toasted sliced white bread and was served in the restaurant that become the India Club at night. I treated myself to a few curries there too but I was on a tight budget in those days (my salary was around £16k I think) and usually went to Pizza Hut instead.

The Hotel Strand Continental did not have a lot going for it but it was a bed for the night and it was a good location and it was cheap so I kept going back.