Please be patient while some images
are being preloaded...
0%
A LONDON Bed and Breakfast (often referred to as a
B&B) is a type
of boarding house typically operating out of a large single family residence
or
Hotel.
Guests are accommodated at night in private bedrooms and breakfast is served
in the morning - either in the bedroom or, more commonly, in a dining room or
the host's kitchen.
Bathrooms can be private or shared (with other guests or with the family in
smaller establishments) or en-suite (where the ablutions are directly accessed
from the guest's bedroom).
B&Bs may be
operated either as a primary occupation or as a secondary source of income. Staff often consists of the house's owners and
members of their family who live there.
Guests are usually expected to pay for their stay upon arrival and leave
before noon (or earlier) on the day of departure. A big advantage of this type
of hosted accommodation is the local knowledge of the host (s).
History
The B&B
arrangement is actually a very old one; before the 20th century, it was quite
normal for country travellers to spend the night at a private house rather
than an inn, and this custom
persists in many parts of the world. However, prior to the 19th century, this
was strictly an informal arrangement constrained by acquaintance and social
rank; a doctor might stay with a doctor or pharmacist, while a nobleman would
only stay with the local gentry.
The abbreviation of `B&B' on roadside signs first became popular in the
British Isles - typically with a detachable 'Vacancies' sign swinging below.
National differences
British Isles
The north east Atlantic archipelago has some of the most expensive
hotel beds in the European Union and
in those isles, B&B's are a budget option.
There tends to be concentrations of B&B's in the seaside towns where,
historically, the working classes holidayed such as Newcastle in Ireland and
Blackpool in England but they are also widespread in isolated rural areas such
as the Highlands of Scotland where there is not a year-round concentration of
travellers sufficient to sustain an hotel.
In the bed and breakfast, breakfast is usually cooked on demand for the guest
and usually features bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans,
etc but, increasingly, because of either a desire of owners to economise or
guests to minimise their calorie intake, a continental breakfast is becoming
more common especially in London.
In The LONDON, most Bed and
Breakfast (B&Bs) serve a full English breakfast as a point of pride.
WHAT IS A London "BED AND BREAKFAST" (B&B) ?
A "Bed and Breakfast" in
London United Kingdom is an expression in common use which is used to describe
overnight accommodation or lodgings of reasonable quality where the host provides a breakfast meal the
following morning.
Many
"London Bed and Breakfasts" or
B&Bs are small businesses run in the home of the host
(usually the lady of the house).
B&Bs vary in size and quality but they normally have between 1 and 4 letting
bedrooms. B&B hosts sometimes also provide other meals for overnight visitors
by separate arrangement.
Many Bed and Breakfasts in the UK are now of a very high quality. The English
Tourism Council (ETC), now known as "Visit Britain", has a grading system for
participating accommodation businesses; B&Bs are assessed on an annual
inspectors report of their facilities and quality standards; they are graded
from 1 to 5 "Diamonds" with 5 being the highest standard. With the growth of
the Internet and the subsequent changes in
Accommodation marketing some B&B hosts now do not to
bother with the expense of ETC participation. The fact that a B&B is not ETC inspected does not imply
inferior quality, indeed in many cases the opposite is true.
Whilst B&B hosts prefer visitors to pre-book or make a reservation, it is
accepted that visitors can simply "turn up" and ask for overnight lodgings.
Overnight B&B rates vary from about ?18 to ?50 per person per night, with the
2006 average being approximately 27.50.
Many people
prefer to use London B&Bs because of their small and informal nature; the host is usually very knowledgeable about the
surrounding area and they are often prepared to provide assistance to their
visitors well beyond what would be expected.
"Bed and
Breakfast" can also be found in larger London accommodation establishments
such as Guest Houses and Hotels; the
additional facilities (laundry, bar etcetera) often mean that overnight rates
here are higher. Expect to pay anything between 30 and 150 per person per
night.
Accommodation or lodgings in the LONDON varies widely. The history and nature of the area means that there
are few large farms and hence not many converted barns and tied houses as
holiday cottages. There are fewer holiday cottages per square mile in the
LONDON. There are a number of hotels and a great many
Bed and Breakfasts.