I had read the reviews and was worried about staying here but thought I'd give it a whirl after a booking elsewhere fell through at the last minute. I paid £26 for a single room, and as a regular budget hotel guest in London I know how cheap this is. My expectations were low...
HOWEVER, I was pleasantly surprised. The staff were very friendly, and although my room wasn't in the Ivy House itself (it was in Cedar Lodge, a few doors further down) there were card locks on all the interior and exterior doors and CCTV - it was pretty secure. The decor is very basic and somewhat tired, but I can't criticise the cleanliness of my room, the bed linen, or the bathroom. I was particularly happy to be upgraded to a double en-suite at no extra cost.
If you are traveling to London and expect to be getting the value for money as in other major cities then you need to readjust your expectations. You are paying pretty much the lowest price in London and consequently you shouldn't expect a spacious and charming hotel room. To put it in perspective, a bed in a YHA dormitory in London is about £20. What you should expect is somewhere that is functional and clean, which is what I got.
Yes, the bathrooms are seriously tiny. Yes, the walls are paper-thin. Yes, the carpets are looking a little threadbare. However, if all you want is somewhere to watch a spot of TV and hit the hay then I don't think you could do better for the money.
In conclusion, this is not somewhere I'll be staying with the wife for a romantic weekend break, but I'll certainly be booking it again when I want somewhere cheap to stay when I'm in town on my own.
I didn't bother with the breakfast, so can't comment on it.