SLOUGH PREMIER LODGE - A DIAMOND IN A PILE OF POO!! (Premier Lodge in general)

Member Name: Emma1973

Product:	Premier Lodge in general
Date:	26/04/03 (642 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good place to reach London from, Close to Theme Parks

Disadvantages: Its in Slough

We were getting rid of the kids!! Unfortunately not permanently, but a week at Easter with the grandparents is a week well accepted and enjoyed
But what to do?
A weekend in bed? Possible but unfortunately (and no reflection on Alan) it can get boring!
A weekend in Paris or Venice? Guess what daft cos lost her passport?
A secluded country cottage? Sorry, again too boring
Clubbing in London? Been there, done that, and a club full of kiddies (aka Babybatties) and transvestites just doesn't do it for me anymore!

Then I saw the advert on Telly, a new roller coaster, one of my favourite things, 'twas Nemesis Inferno at Thorpe Park! So what could I do but prepare to visit? But as Chessington World of Adventures is about 20 miles away from Thorpe Park, we thought lets stay overnight and go to both (with the aid of our annual passes). We aint fussy, didn't want to spend too much, and definitely didn't want to go too far into London as both places were on the outskirts. So you know a Holiday Inn Express, cheap motel type would do. And so I wandered onto the Premier Lodge website and found they were doing a lovely promotion of 2 nights over the Easter weekend for 1. The cost? A whopping £52!

So I starting looking for one close enough to both of them. I tried Chessington, Epsom, Rugeley and Tamworth and they were all full. The nearest one that had a smoking room was in Slough...Slough!! Even the name makes me shudder. Pardon to any of you that live there, you have my deepest sympathy. Its just one concrete jungle, industrial estate full of mad drivers. But beggars cant be choosers so Slough it was.

Please don't use the RAC website for direction cos they are completely wrong, so in the end we got to the main high street in Slough and turned right instead of left as it said. Went along, go onto the Uxbridge Rd and there it was. A modern building, smart and clean, it looked distinctly out of place opposite the big
burnt out garage, and next to the dirty white Co-op and the derelict houses. It has to be said that the scenic views were not a huge selling point. An amply sized car park but not big enough if the 150+ rooms were all occupied!

The foyer was modern and absolutely spotless. There was a huge drink and chocolates machine there, perfect for the midnight munchies as there was nowhere else you were going to be able to get an! There was no queue so we were booked in by the very nice, polite and efficient chap on reception. Having spent all day at Chessington me feet were killing me so we got the lift to the second floor. The doors opened and the smell hit me!!
Now in the course of my job I go into a few residential homes and hospitals and that's what it smelt like! I pray to God that its the disinfectant they use and not a bunch of incontinent geriatrics in room 210! But, Hurrah, going through the heavy doors to the smokers room manages to get rid of it. And the person smoking the rather heavy weed on Sunday managed to dispel any other smells at all. Dear God, there could have been a pile of elephant droppings and all you would have smelt was his dope!

Anyway, found our room, opened the door and stepped into an ice block. That Saturday wasn't particularly warm and the heating was off, but switching the fire on soon warmed it up?
Why is the lighting in these places so difficult? I just want one for the bathroom a main one and a bedside one, but no, 2 each side of the bed and 3 on the wall, one of which was the bathroom. It was rather like a Crystal Maze game, trying to get them all in the right order!
The room decor was good, pale blue walls, wooden open plan wardrobe and big wooden desk, one comfy chair and a mirror. And lets not forget the huge print of a huge leaf, pretty but slightly unsettling

But I don't care about that, I wanna try out the bed, and its large! Its 6ft by 6 ½ ft and suits Alan, 6'2 perfectly. Some
would complain its a little too firm but I found it perfect. The bed was a little too large, I'm not used to having Alan so far away. The bed linen was immaculate and fresh, as were the pillows. The whole room was clean, although vacuuming right up to the skirting board wouldn't go amiss.
Rather nicely the housekeeper came along to check we were satisfied with the cleanliness of it.

Oh my God but hotels are getting stingy, I look quite forward to my little bottle o goodies to take away. What do I find? A bottle of Dove welded above the sink and a bottle of Lux shower gel super glued to the shower wall. Again I have to say the bathroom was immaculate, very clean indeed, cheap loo roll isn't my choice of bum wipe though! Powder blue was probably a bad idea to paint next to the door as I could see grubby fingerprints starting to appear!

Other bits in the room was the were the 14 inch telly, despite a couple of requests to change the remote control batteries it didn't happen. It had the usual kettle with clean mugs, selection of coffee's, tea's, milk, etc. Decaff wasn't there so I did have to ask at reception who supplied plenty.
And NO biscuits! Stingy lots, I look forwards to a coffee and shortbread after a long drive.
The hairdryer, which I never use cos they are always crap and as I have my braids in I don't wash my hair too often! Actually one of them fell out and I didn't miss it, Lord only knows what the cleaner though when she found it!!

There is also leaflets about the breakfast menu, pizza delivery service and about Premier Lodges in general.

They do have a bar and restaurant attached which looks a bit more olde-worlde, quite a bizarre contrast. The bar is limited but pub prices, and you can get them added to your bill.
We did have breakfasts there, £4.45 would get you toast, cereals, croissants, fresh fruit, yoghurt and orange juice. For an extra £2 you get all that but a
n English breakfast as well (sausage, bacon, egg, etc), which was adequate, but not generous. Still very nice.

We didn't use the restaurant but it did have a wide range of dishes and did look goo (We escaped the restaurant after realising we would have to sit next to the most boring garden furniture salesman in the world, I have to say it was full of Liverpudlians perhaps they mistake it for somewhere else?) There is a Harvester and a Pizza hut a short drive away. The bar and restaurant are open from 5pm till 11pm and 7.30am to 10.00am for breakfast.

We didn't have to checkout till 11am and we ended up paying £82 for 2 night, 4 big breakfasts and lots of drinks. Gotta be seen as reasonable!!

Phew, time to draw to a close, so there you go, great staff, clean rooms and good food.
Bad stuff - the location, however good you make the inside look the surrounding area is bad. Not wishing to insult individuals but Slough is one of the biggest dumps I have ever had the misfortune to visit.

I wouldn't refuse to go to this Premier Lodge but only if I couldn't find anywhere else and closed my eyes on the way there and back again!!

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