David Jenkins’ Weblog

A couple of years ago I’d never been to Bournemouth, now I’ve been 3 times and it’s a resort to be recommended. This time I stayed at the Hotel Riviera on West Cliff.

We didn’t have much of a summer this year but September was a bonus and there were people on the beach and in the sea when I arrived. And my room was on the top floor with an uninterupted view out over the bay and clear sight in both directions. It was splendid.

But the Hotel Riviera is no boring, clone of a modern hotel. Neither is it to be confused with the Riviera Hotel also in Bournemouth which looks nice but isn’t on the front. It reminded me of the hotels I used to stay in when I went on summer hols with my parents some years ago.

In those days it was usually Llandudno which still seems to me to set the standard for a resort. At Llandudno there’s still a pier and there’s a string of hotels along the front. And when I used to stay there there was a tramway which ran open-top trams to the neighbouring resort of Colwyn Bay. There was then and there still is a cable car going up the local peak, the Great Orme, where the destination used to be Randy’s Bar.

But back to the Hotel Riviera. It is not expensive, great value at £50 for dinner, B&B. But the mealtimes are from a different age. No breakfast before 0830 and last orders for dinner at a quarter to seven! I don’t mind tradition but that’s a bit limiting. I didn’t make dinner but I enjoyed the breakfast, despite having to conform with pre-arranged seating.

The hotel has one of those splendid lifts with concertina doors. And of course if someone had left the door open, it was not automatic, someone else had to go and find the lift. No problem for me but there was a disabled lady on the top floor in the room next to mine. She needed the lift but unfortunately it was not big enough to take her wheelchair; she had to stand and her partner folded it up to take it in the lift with them.

The bedroom was a compromise. The traditional sink in the bedroom but also a shower and toilet shoe-horned into a cubicle by the door. No room for the cat to be swung. But the view was exceptional.

It was a good stay. I had lunch in the garden on the day we arrived and enjoyed breakfast every morning. I would change time for dinner but otherwise it was fine; I’d happily return.

Ludlow’s generally reckoned on being a bit of a gourmet centre but that’s not why I went there nor why I regard it as another world. Admittedly the breakfast at the Clive was first class (more on the hotel later) but dinner was at an Indian and not at one of the Michelin starred restaurants of which the town boasts. I went to visit best friendsColin and Lorraine Onions and they really do live at the end of the world. (more…)

I’m pretty fortunate in that during my working life various employers have paid for me to travel and to stay in some rather fine hotels all over the place. Often they’ve been the big brands and what they’ve lacked in terms of character they’ve generally made up for in efficiency which is generally what you look for when on a business trip. This week I stayed in quite the most elegant hotel that I have experienced. The Hotel Món St Benet in Sant Fruitós de Bages in Catalonia. (more…)