Well, as I said earlier I wasn't really going to wait until later to look into hotels in London. I did some searching a discovered there is a square (really a rectangle) about a 5 minute walk from Paddington station with rows of Georgian terraces along each long side and a garden in the middle - Norfolk Square. As far as I can make out all the terraces have been converted into B&B's - several having been joined into one B&B. For fun (am I sad or what?) I tracked down every B&B/hotel in that square, checked out their rates and read their reviews.
The reviews on TripAdvisor were the most fun. Full of Americans being appalled by the obvious - no airconditioning, no lifts, small rooms and cramped bathrooms. My favorites were the ones that complained that no-one opened the front door for her, the lack of room service, no hairdryers, no toiletries besides soap and only towels not the full complement of bath sheet, bath towel, hand towel and face towel replaced daily. They're 2 and 3 star B&Bs. What did you expect? More, clearly.
I've sorted the list of Norfolk Square B&Bs based on ratings and rack rate and will try a book at one of the top 3 later in the year/early next year. I put in (somewhat) arbitrary requirements that they must supply breakfast as part of the room rate, full English breakfast (or some simulacrum) preferred and possible to get a single room for not more than 60 GBP.
However, having done all that and having nothing more to do but wait wasn't very much fun, so I did yet more hotel research. Worried that the area near a major train station might be a little seedy I expanded my search into Bayswater using the critera above. Found very few and had to compromise on the 'full English breakfast' requirement. Found one with great reviews, did have the full breakfast and rack rates within my budget. They only have 26 rooms so I succumbed to temptation and sent them an e-mail enquiring about rates for next May. That was over a week ago and no reply. OK, May is 7 months away but not bothering to reply to questions doesn't inspire me with much confidence in their customer service. Will they be as cavalier with any e-mail/fax trying to make a booking? Will there be a room waiting for me if I do book? Cross them off the list.
I had been leaning towards booking directly with the hotel but perhaps it is safer to go through venere and the like. If a hotel has some sort of online booking system then I'm a little more confident they will be expecting me when I finally do show up.
Found another Bayswater hotel that seems reasonable. Only continental breakfast, but the rack rate for a double for single use within budget and comes with a room safe. Reviews are so-so. TripAdvisor denizens underwhelmed, other booking sites more positive. Like the idea of a 'double for single use' but am a bit concerned at how cheap it is, relatively speaking. Perhaps it is as poor as the TripAdvisors reviews suggest. Probably end up in one of the Norfolk Square B&Bs.