What are your interests?
I’d hire a car as roads are good and easy to navigate and distances are reasonable. Plenty of excellent places to visit in England.
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London is expensive, so need to know your budget.
Last time I stayed in Bloomsbury. The British Museum is wonderful and 2 blocks away. Most other things you would want to see in London are walking distance or easy to get to by public transport.
I have driven around the UK and also taken the train - last time was to Manchester - the railway line is walking distance from the hotel in Bloomsbury 
As bad as post-Thatcher British rail is, it is not as frustrating as the small and congested UK roads (compared to ours that is). Hire a car when you get to your midlands destination.
Speaking from experience, avoid the Nishinari Ward. Good food to be found there, but not so great as an area, and full of flea-bitten accommodation…
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Going with family we have 3 boys 9-14. We enjoy any place we go really, love seeing attractions and surrounds.
Another website that can often turn up something at pretty short notice here is booking.com. Grab something reasonable in Namba (are you still aiming for an airport bus from there?) or Shinsaibashi. Even go higher towards Umeda, but like Baker’s experience be wary of what neighbourhood you might cop if you go south of Namba.
If you see anything decent and want a heads up about the neighbourhood, send me a PM or @ me here.
Yep. Good suggestion. I recently used booking.com for a business hotel in Mie. They have some great deals.
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Thanks @mrjez, @JohnRain, @tinhillterror, @BAAKKEERRRR.
I’ll check out AirBnB, though I’m now wary of private apartments.
Otherwise I’m tending towards spending some FF points on a triple room in Swissotel above Namba station. Seems like a good location & handy to the Airport Limo Bus for our early flight home.
For what it’s worth I am in Chile right now.
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Swissotel is pretty much the perfect location.
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Good to hear.
Who knows - the forced cancellation could be a blessing in disguise…
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Recommend Chester and York
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I’ll be in Santiago overnight next Tuesday. US$117 for a visa to pass through is steep.
London can be hideously expensive, esp. accommodation.
Have a look at the Premier Inn chain. Not a lot of character, but they have some reasonably priced hotels in prime locations. E.g. a few years ago we stayed in their London County Hall hotel, next to the London Eye over Westminster Bridge from the Houses of Parliament. Iconic. And it appears in every second movie located in London. They also have a hotel in Borough Market near the Tower which would be a good spot.
Otherwise, I agree Bloomsbury is a decent base and the nearby British Museum unmissable.
7-8 days will fly by. Where in the midlands?
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For what it is worth, Chile is a fantastic place to visit.
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The boys may enjoy this place (and you too)
We spent a day here when we were in England in 2006, our son was 14. We had a good time, I didn’t do any of the hair raising rides, but there are other rides which are more sedate.
Agree with @Gwilty re York. Went there by train July 2018 and spent the day was good.
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Family were from Wolverhampton but live in Shrewsbury these days.
Seriously, thanks for the tips everyone 
Probably heading to Berlin after uk, does it make any difference flying out of Manchester vs London?
Would save travelling back south.
Plus Heathrow is a pig of an airport at times. Depends who you want to fly with as there are plenty of LCC airports in the UK. EasyJet and Ryanair often do £30-40 flights from UK cities to Berlin. Try to fly into Berlin Tegel rather than Schonefeld although both are terrible airports
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