London - Laundry Near Waterloo Station or Gloucester Rd. Station

Andrea, one way to check is to open up Google Maps and search for "laundromat near Waterloo Station" or "laundromat near Gloucester Rd station." Google will show you all the laundromats near those two places. FWIW, I just did a quick search and it looked like there were quite a bit more laundromats near Waterloo Station.

You will get a more precise search if you key in your hotel name of course. And you might want to check with your hotel as well. Many offer laundry services for a fee.

Thanks Mardee. I’ll try that.

Laundry as in washing machines and dryers or just dry cleaning?

I’d use Google maps, type in the addresses of each accommodation you are considering, then type in launderettes.

Thanks Claudia & Concerned local for your responses. I want to wash my clothes, not dry cleaning. I was only able to find dry cleaning or a laundry pick up service near Waterloo. I stayed in that area, near the Premier Inn County Hall, in 2014 and thought the area was okay and an easy walk across the river. This will be my daughter’s first visit to London and with only 5 nights I want her to see as much as possible. I did another search near Gloucester Rd, where we spent 9 nights last year (we had an apartment with a washer) and when I changed my search to launderette I found a self serve laundry just a 3 minute walk away. Claudia, I was really interested in staying at Hotel 63 again, where we spent 4 nights last year, but they don’t have AC. I think that’s too risky in late August these days.

I think you are right about the risk, Andrea

So you are set?

Great.

About a five minute walk from the Gloucester Road station on Cromwell Road is a self service laundry. It's two stores down from the Sainsbury's. It's called Bobo's Bubbles.

Head west about 2-3 blocks on the north side of the street.

I've never used it but I pass it all the time. Not a big place. Not sure if they have a drop off service.

Thanks Frank. That’s the one I saw. I prefer self service. I’m eyeing 2 hotels nearby.

That laundry definitely has self-service. It's usually pretty busy. I should be walking by either tomorrow or the next day and I'll try to get hours and prices. (Assuming I remember...LOL)

Which hotels are you considering?

I actually just booked the Ashburn Hotel. We spent one night there last October when we decided to arrive in London a day before our apartment reservation started. The address is 111 Cromwell Rd. Thanks for checking it out for me, if you remember. :-)

If you are short on time then perhaps it’s worthwhile finding a full service laundry or paying for the pickup and drop service? When I was looking earlier this year some of the online services offered discounts for first time customers.

Here’s a link to a prior thread on laundry.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/coin-laundry-in-london-e9f11f2c-36ce-4463-bc86-36e4eeeb80f1

I was in London last month and went to a laundrette. It took me less than an hour (and under 10 GBP) to wash and dry my clothes. I only mention that as in the past I have always done the service wash option as I assumed it would take me a lot longer to do the laundry.

In case anyone else is reading, I used the Kings Laundrette which was a short walk from the Premier Inn St Pancras … obviously that one won’t work for Andrea’s location.

Bobo's is like a two minute walk from the Ashburn.

I wrote it down to go by the place. If I don't write it down, I forget.

I have use the one Frank II talks about. Seems like it had fairly long hours but it’s been a couple of years. No problems. But be careful those dryers are incredibly hot. I did kind of over bake one shirt that didn’t take it well.

This web page may be of general assistance- https://www.toptiplondon.com/practical-tips/laundrettes-self-service-wash-laundry-london

It says 7am to 10pm daily for Bobo's Bubbles at 111 Earls Court Road, or slightly shorter at their 154 Cromwell Road Branch.

https://www.yell.com/s/launderettes-england.html

I went to Bobo's Bubbles.

The Cromwell Rd location is open from 7AM to 11 PM every day.

It's staffed from 10 AM to 5 PM daily.

A wash is either 5 or 6 GBP depending on the size of the machine.

Dryers are 1 GBP for every 10 minutes or 20p for 2 minutes.

The washing machines only take pound coins. The dryers take pound coins and 20p coins.

They make change during staffed hours. They also said the store next door might give change. (At least that's what one of the signs said.)

They have twenty machines....10 wash/10 dry. But a few were out of order.

I went in just after six this evening and there were only two people doing their laundry.

@Frank II, thank you for stopping by Bobo’s and getting that information for me. It’s very helpful. Likely I would try to get there when they open and get the laundry done early so it doesn’t interfere with the activities of the day.

@Carol, thanks so much for the heads up about the heat of the dryers. I may take the clothes back to the hotel and hang them to dry. I dry my clothes on low and I certainly don’t need to have them shrink. This 2 week trip to the UK is just the beginning of an approximate 10 week trip.

@isn31c and geovagriffith, thanks for the links for the laundrettes.