Tom Parker Bowles tests the budget hotel chain that just beat Premier Inn in Which? rankings, finding ‘astonishing value’ at £58 per night despite some surprising flaws
The Hatchet Inn in Newbury, Berkshire(Image: Wetherspoon Hotels)
Queen Camilla’s son has experienced some of Britain’s most swanky hotels, but now he’s put a Wetherspoon establishment to the test.
The budget pub chain has been a firm favourite among millions of Brits for years, and has recently broadened its offering to include 56 hotels dotted around the UK.
Wetherspoon has just overtaken Premier Inn in a Which? survey of chain hotels, with the consumer watchdog now hailing it as offering “great value” accommodation.
Following such high praise, food writer Tom Parker Bowles – one of Queen Camilla’s two children – decided to experience a Wetherspoon hotel first-hand during a stay at The Hatchet Inn in Newbury, Berkshire, reports the Express.
Despite confessing he’s usually a “five star bore”, Tom admitted he was genuinely impressed by what £58 per night delivered.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he praised numerous aspects of his accommodation, highlighting a “sparkling clean” bathroom, generously-sized towels, a shower boasting excellent water pressure, and reliable Wi-Fi.
He notes: “I’ve stayed in far worse places, for three times the price.”
However, it wasn’t entirely plain sailing for Tom. He pointed out that the bed, which could be larger, is positioned directly above the pub’s entrance, meaning he attempted to drift off whilst the venue ejected customers at approximately 1am.
A few hours later, he was rudely awakened by the noise of an extremely early marketing meeting taking place nearby. He also noted that the shower floods if you linger too long, and the extractor fan roars like an “angry chainsaw”.
Despite these niggles, he concluded: “But for £58, it feels churlish to complain. Astonishing value, of course, made better by its proximity to the pub.”
The overwhelming majority of these hotels are located directly above existing pubs run by Britain’s largest pub operator.
Tom observed how drinkers in the pubs were enjoying Worthington’s for just £2 a pint and jugs of Pornstar Martini cocktails for under a tenner. He noted: “Say what you like about Wetherspoons, you can’t beat those prices.
“God, I love a Wetherspoon’s, not in some trite, archly ironic way – rather for providing cheap beer, bottomless coffee, warmth and no-nonsense succour to great swathes of the British public.”
This comes after a couple revealed their experience staying at a Wetherspoon hotel, where they instantly spotted something peculiar.
YouTube content creators Ash and Kels, who’ve travelled to 65 countries worldwide, had never before checked into one of the budget pub chain’s accommodation offerings. In fact, Ash confessed that until recently, they had no idea Wetherspoon even ran hotels across the country.
This discovery led them to book a room at their closest branch, The Wyndham Arms in Bridgend, Wales. Upon arrival at the venue, they observed the pub was “really busy” before picking up their keycard for the room upstairs.
Stepping away from the bustling pub environment, the pair were pleasantly taken aback by what they found. Ash observed: “Straight away the noise of the pub has gone.”