Regular readers of my opinions will recall that the last time I was on business in Bristol, I had the misfortune to find myself booked into the Travel Inn Metro. On another recent visit I was determined that I would find more suitable accommodation for the two nights that I was in town. The only decent hotel in the city with rooms available was Jury’s Hotel.

Prince’s Street is within walking distance of the city centre and Park Street shopping. The hotel backs directly onto the waterfront, and is a stone’s throw away from a good choice of bars, cafes and pubs. The Bristol Hippodrome is also close by, and there are sometimes overnight deals available to see a show and spend the night in the hotel. A number of local bus services run very close to the hotel, but it is definitely not walking distance from Temple Meads railway station. Prince’s Street itself is a relatively busy road, and certainly at peak times there is a significant amount of traffic and noise. At weekends, the area is a thoroughfare for revellers out on the “beer scooter” and I would not suggest this hotel as a suitable location for a quiet weekend away.

My first impressions of the hotel were that whilst the décor was probably once quite refined, it had now become shabby in places. This was quite surprising considering the fact that the hotel had (allegedly) been “extensively refurbished”. Indeed, Bristol Jury’s Hotel was upgraded from three to four stars as a result of this refit. The main staircase, to be used as en emergency exit, was bare and cold, with that distinct smell of urine that you find in an NCP car park, and the wallpaper in the corridor leading to my room was peeling. All in all, not a particularly good start.

Regrettably, the bathroom was not quite what I would have liked. As I am relatively tall, in order to use most of the facilities in a bathroom, I prefer to have an adequate amount of space – something that was severely lacking here. The door opened directly on to the toilet pedestal, which meant that you had to come in and close the door before you could even see the toilet. What made the situation worse was that the toilet was positioned in a very narrow cavity – only the very slimmest people would be able to sit down in comfort – and the whole set up was very claustrophobic. Needless to say, the bath was absolutely microscopic. Do you remember Garfield the Cat and his teddy bear Pooky? If you imagine how small a moggy’s teddy bear would be then you may appreciate what I mean when I refer to the bath being a “Pooky Bath”. Having a bath became a relatively acrobatic affair, with a careful selection of body parts alternately resting outside the basin in order that everything got washed in turn. I ultimately opted for showers.

An essential part of any hotel stay has to be a sampling of the delights that room service has to offer. Having returned late after a night out, I telephoned room service to order a glass of Coke and some fresh fruit salad. 35 minutes later the food arrived, with no apology for the delay (although the £3 tray charge had been removed). The following morning I opted for a full English breakfast (costing approximately £15) that I am sure was delicious when it was hot – unfortunately when it reached me most of the ingredients were stone cold. Being a complete glutton for punishment, I ordered food a third time – a club sandwich, with fries and a Coke that I am glad to say were actually very tasty, and arrived promptly in my room. In short – a 33% chance of decent food and service.

(Have asked Ciao to move this to a generic or Bristol specific category so apologies for it being in the category for Cardiff – I just couldn’t wait to publish….) :O)