Thespians Hotel. (Mercure Shakespeare Hotel (Stratford-Upon-Avon))

Member Name: garymarsh6

Product:	Mercure Shakespeare Hotel (Stratford-Upon-Avon)
Date:	16/08/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: In the heart of Stratford Upon Avon.

Disadvantages: Poor car park facilities.

The Mercure Shakespear Hotel, Stratford upon Avon.

The hotel was once part of the Macdonald hotel chain but has been taken over by the Mercure hotels group which is an international hotel chain.

The shakespeare Hotel is in the heart of the beautiful historical town of Stratford upon Avon so it is easy to walk around and see all the attractions of this historical old town. It is a beautiful 74 roomed hotel with rooms and suites in the main building and also in the adjoining annex.

Some of the rooms are available with a four poster bed and each room carries a name associated with Shakespeare.Its location is ideal to sight see around this beautiful town and is handy for the local Shakespeare theatres and it is not too far away from the river. The road it is in can be a bit busy but there is not that much noise from the traffic.

The hotel is over 300 years old and has a Tudor appearance of old oak beamed frontage which makes it look very pretty and picturesque especially when the bright red geraniums in hanging baskets and window boxes are in full bloom. Throughout the hotel you will see there arelots of original oak beams and some of the flooring is uneven and the floor is uneven and in places you have to duck down to stop you banging your head on the low beams.

The ceilings appear to be quite low adding to the atmosphere of the place. There are some tasteful old pictures adorning the walls throughout the hotel and brass ornaments. There is a massive fire place in the bar area and it had roaring fire going when we returned from an evening out at the theatre. All the furniture and decor is quite old and dated in keeping with the rest of the building and it maintains an atmosphere of olde world charm.

Reception.

The reception area is set back towards the back of the hotel and we were greeted quite well and given directions to our room. The staff were very professional and business like and welcoming. There was a lot of tourist information available and leaflets you could take to browse through of local attractions. Check in and check out was simple and painless.

The rooms.

There are a variety of rooms to choose from including single, twin, doubles and suites. Some of the rooms are interlinked for families. If you really want to splash out you can book one of the suite rooms with a four poster bed.

We had booked into the hotel for the weekend for a theatre break and we were pleasantly suprised at the atmosphere of the building. It is not ultra modern in any way and some of the rooms are very dated indeed as is the furniture. There are oak beams everywhere even inside the rooms. Our room was a small suite with an en suite bathroom.

The lounge area was functional with two very old winged armchairs, a coffee table, lampstand in the corner and a writing desk. The television was quite an old set and looked very much out of place anyway. We were not in the room long enough to watch television as there is so much to see and do both in Stratford itself and the surrounding areas. The decor did look a bit drab and I must admit it was clean which as far as I am concerened is a very high priority on my list of expectations.

The bed was quite big and very comfortable and I managed to sleep a whole 8 hours. There was tea and coffee making facilities in the room and two bedside tables with reading lamps. Our room was in the main part of the hotel so I can not comment about the annex area but it was peaceful. We could hear no noise at all apart from the creaking floor boards both inside and outside the room and in the corridors.

The bathroom was plain white tiled and had a shower over the bath and a toilet. There were some toiletries provided as you would expect but they were not very good quality and we had brought our own stuff with us anyway. It was spotlessly clean and functional but not a bathroom you would want to spend any time in,

Parking.

Parking in the hotel is very limited and the entrance to this is down a side street through a very narrow archway. The car park is very small indeed and you need to be quite adept at manoeuvering the car to park properly. I noticed some people even double parked which is not very helpful if you wanted to get away early. Parking is on a first come first serve basis and when we returned to the hotel after going out for a trip on one of the days all the spaces were taken so we ended up parked quite a way from the hotel.


Dining.

Although there is a restaurant in the hotel called Orthello's we only had breakfast here as there is a wide choice of restaurants around Stratford. Looking at the menu it appeared a little on the expensive side but the choices were very good indeed. I can only tell you about the breakfast because that is all we had. Breakfast was included in our room rate and worked out about ten pounds each. If you are buying breakfast separately it worked out about £15 a head.

The breakfast was a mixture of buffet and waiter service. The buffet was very extensive with fresh fruit, tinned fruits, various seeds and dried fruits available. There was a wide selection of pastries and different breads. There was a good range of mini packs of cereals, albran and muesli. THere were also different fruit juices and yoghurts to help yourself to. Tea and coffee was also freely available and the staff were constantly offering to top up the pots.

While helping ourselves to fruit and breads the waitress had taken our order for a cooked breakfast. The cooked breakfast was delicious, good meaty sausages and nice crisp bacon, fresh tomatoes and mushrooms. The eggs were cooked to perfection apparently. I wouldnt know as I dont eat them and the nearest I would come to eating eggs are the wrapped variety made by cadburys none of which I might add were on offer.

The breakfast was very substantial and certainly set you up for the day.

The Bar.

There are two bars in the hotel although we only made the front bar which is at the front of the hotel. This is called Orthello's bar. The other bar is called Quil bar and lounge and is towards the rear of the hotel. The front bar was more lively as people caome in off the street for drinks or prior to or after dinner in the restaurant. The roaring log fire was quite nice to see although it did chuck out the heat somewhat. Prices for drinks at the bar were quite extrotionate and typical of hotel prices.


Cost.

Our stay per night was £172 and totalled £344 for the two night's bed and breakfast. They do sometimes offer cheaper rates and there are also packages available. Some of the rooms are much more expensive than the one we had. We booked this hotel via the Mercure website which was simple to use and a confirmation email came as soon as we had booked it.

The web site can be found here :-

www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-6630-shakespeare-hotel-s trarford-upon-avon/index.shtml

On reflection.

Would I recommend this hotel?

I would definitley stay here again due to it being in the heart of Stratford and close to all the local amenities, local theatres and tourist sites. The only minus point I found about the hotel was the car park but the hotel can not really do much about that. This is the only reason I marked it four stars.

The hotel was very comfortable and quite peaceful. We had no issues with anything in the room although it was a little dated but everything was clean. The restaurant was very nice indeed and the extensive breakfast was wonderful. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and it was a pleasure to stay here. It might have been a little on the expensive side but it was worth it. If you do go and stay here you wont regret it.

Address:-

Mercure Shakespeare Hotel.
Chapel Street.
Stratford upon Avon.
CV37 6ER

Telephone: 01789294997

Thanks for reading this review.

Summary: Excellent, comfortable hotel close to all the historical sites in and around Stratford.