ROYALE PLACE

The location was incredibly convenient, enough so that I would consider staying here again despite some of the less then stellar aspects. Train station is very close, and downtown and the University are a very manageable walk. Easy access to the greenway trail system at the bridge before the train station gets you off the busy road to a nice peaceful stroll to wherever you want to go. Bus stops are almost right out your door. The amount of space, and access to a kitchen and laundry was perfect for what we needed for this trip. Our friends characterized the neighborhood as "rough", but I thought it was great. Everyone I interacted with directly was very friendly, and I never felt unsafe there. I could have stayed there for several more weeks working my way through the culinary delights available at the Umrah market around the corner. Lots of other great businesses near by, including the DIY shop, the Eastern European grocery, the Coffee Press, and the Chinese takeaway place on the corner.

The house desperately needs a bit more re-invested into it. The mattresses felt like they were very old. The blinds on my bedroom no longer extended far enough down to block the light from across the way. The main drying rack for clothes was among the pile of broken things in the backyard. One leg of the dining table was missing a bolt, and so we had to be very careful not to let the table knock over while eating. Likewise for one of the dining chairs. Living room light fixture didn't work. Separately, the provisioning of the kitchen was pretty spartan. One decent skillet, a few other odd pots and pans, only two forks, no mixing bowls or measuring equipment. I ended up buying a dish drying rack, a rudimentary bowl, a french press, and a couple of storage tubs for leftovers which I left there for the next person to use. If someone is mostly just getting takeaway and reheating it, the kitchen is serviceable, but one would be hard pressed to actually cook much with what was there. Number one issue though is the neighbors. They seem to lack the ability to communicate with each other or their kids with anything less than full volume screeching. The also smoke like chimneys, and since they don't want to or can't smoke inside, they do it out back effectively right by the downstairs windows and right under the main bedroom window. Since they also like to watch TV while smoking, they open the window, crank up the volume, and watch their TV from the back yard. That puts the smoke and the noise immediately adjacent to the downstairs windows that open, and right under the main bedroom window. There's no air conditioning, so you have to open the windows for the temperature to be tolerable, so I was woken several times around midnight to a smoke filled room and the neighbor's TV blaring. At least they reserve most of their yelling at each other for the day time. I ended up buying a a fan to put next to the bed, which helped.

Everything

Nothing

Really tidy and spacious property! Perfect location for the match we were attending in Franklin’s Gardens. Would recommend!

Great location. Very spacious and comfortable and really good value for money.