Travel, both overseas and domestic, and food are closely inter-twined in the minds of The Man Bird and myself. It’s no secret that we love staying away from the nest, so we were thrilled to be invited along to The Holiday Inn at Filton, Bristol to see how its 6-month-old refurbishment has settled. I don’t know about you, but I think having on-site parking makes staying away so much less stressful, and there is bucket-loads of it at this great Hotel.
Having parked up and retrieved our overnight bags from the jalopy’s boot, we headed inside to the spacious reception area and its pair of desks. A warmer welcome we couldn’t have wished to receive from the smartly attired young lady, Alandra, and she soon gave us ‘the skinny’ on where our room was, how to find the pool and Spirit Fitness Suite and, most importantly, the service times for food. We thanked her for all her help, and headed off down the bright corridor to the lift (over a quirky, water-free ‘bridge’) and onward to our second-floor room.
Opening the door to our Premier Double room (1 of the hotel’s 211), we were both impressed by just how much space there was! The bathroom has a swish rainfall shower-over-bath configuration, complete with Dove toiletries: Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash, with Hand Wash and Body Lotion at the side of the wash basin. Plush towels and a bath-mat were also provided.
The double bed was kitted out in self-stripe, pristinely crisp white linens, and extra pillows and blankets were in sealed packets in the wardrobe in case they were needed. Let’s just say that even men from Mars wouldn’t be cold at this venue, so the extra items stayed where they were! For those among you who are particular about the density of your pillow, if you need a super-soft or firm one, just ring down to reception and the team will send you your perfect ‘snooze facilitator’.
As well as a very comfy lounge chair and footstool combo that I bagged for reading in (thanks to its proximity to a trendy, three-tiered floor lamp), there is a large writing/working desk and seat for business users and a well-stocked hostess trolley with kettle, teas, coffees, sugar, milk, and biccies – essential brain-food. Fans of the bean will be happy to hear that there’s also a pod machine, and both full-fat and decaff pods. Whilst I stuck the kettle on, His Nibs availed himself of [it seemed] every single socket to plug USB and USB-C devices in, and made good use of the high-speed wi-fi to send some urgent emails. After dinner, that wi-fi came in handy to ‘cast’ a series that we’d been watching at home to the large screen TV at the end of the bed! Back in the present moment, we took a peek out of our window and saw the beautiful landscaped lawn, trees and pond that had geese lazing on its banks. These monkeys (yes, I know they’re Geese!) provide a natural alarm-clock in the morning, should you not be ‘on the clock’ so to speak; think of it as a bit of the countryside near to the city…I did, when I wanted to tell them to shut up!
Holiday Inn Bristol Filton prides itself on being a family-friendly place to stay, and actively encourages quality family time together by offering for kids to stay free when sharing a room with at least one adult; the same applies to dining in the restaurant in the open lobby: children under 12years old eat free (when ordering from the kids menu) when an accompanying adult orders food from the Open Lobby menu. Thoughtfully, there is a shelf stacked full of books and board games that families can use to entertain their children and make memories together.
Speaking of the ‘open lobby’, I think this is a fantastic design; from the reception, bar, lounge and restaurant, everything flows seamlessly, and there are lots of corners tucked away in which to work, or enjoy a private conversation. I couldn’t resist taking a perch in one of the seats from Concorde (built and test-flight-flown in Filton itself, no less!) that were underneath a spectacular mural of the iconic aircraft.
I love it when folks take pride in their locale, and everywhere you looked, there were nods to Bristol’s brilliance: locally-inspired memorabilia in the eating area, prints of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Hot Air Balloons, Boats (Bristol is on the river Avon, which then flows into the Severn Estuary and out into the Bristol Channel), and of course, the mysterious artist Banksy. The Hospitality team had also introduced us to the charms of their home city by gifting us cartons of Ribena and Fry’s Chocolate Cream (both originally hailing from Bristol, or ‘Brizzle’ as it’s affectionately known) as well as some more corporate items; thank you for your thoughtfulness, it made us smile when we first arrived.
Mentioning the locale brings me nicely to my next point, which is the rather useful location of Holiday Inn Bristol Filton. Thanks to the proximity of Bristol Airport, travellers can rest up before or after their journeys, whether pleasure or business. Fans of sport and/or live entertainment can grab a train from Bristol Temple Meads Station (about 4 miles away from Filton) to either Cardiff, Exeter, Cheltenham or Birmingham. If you want to explore further afield, London, Manchester, Leeds and even Edinburgh are accessible for visiting from Bristol Temple Meads. The Holiday Inn Bristol Filton can also be a hub for business conferences and events, too, thanks to its modern, well-equipped Academy Conference Centre.
After a solid night’s sleep, His Nibs went off to do his day job, leaving me to enjoy the heated pool (warmer than my local leisure centre’s one!), the single-sex sauna within the ladies changing room, and the Spirit Fitness Suite. As well as being available to hotel guests, this facility can also be accessed by paying a membership fee – handy if you’re a local. The reception was manned by an extremely personable team member who, upon noticing my paperback, got chatting to me and we discovered a mutual love of the author Agatha Christie!
The Fitness Suite isn’t going to win awards in terms of size or range of equipment but, if you want to work those muscles whilst you’re away, it will do the job more than adequately. I warmed up on the elliptical, though I could’ve gone on a treadmill, rowing machine or static bike if I’d preferred. In one corner is a rack of free-weights, ranging from 2kg-25kg, and an adjustable incline bench to perform seated exercises with them on. Users of machines will no doubt make use of the Lat Pulldown and/or low row machine, the dual cable rack set-up and range of bars and straps that are arranged there. Pull-up bars are located both here as part of the set-up, and at the other end of the room fixed to the wall. There was also a machine to perform leg extensions and hamstring curls on; as I said, not a bad offering, by any means.
After wringing out my swimming cossie in the spinner, I handed in my towel and went off to the open lobby in search of a corner to enjoy both my book and a cup of coffee. I ended up ordering a spot of lunch, too; you can read all about the dinner, breakfast and lunch that The Man and I had in a separate review.
So, would we stay at Holiday Inn Bristol Filton again? Absolutely we would! If we lived closer, I’d be popping in all the time to the open lobby and the Fitness Suite. To get the best room rates, visit www.lghhm.com and then select ‘hotels’ and filter the location that you want. Easy Peasy! For more information on the Academy Conference Centre and/or booking availability, give the front desk team a buzz on 0371 942 9014.
Again, huge thanks to General Manager Margaret Coffey and her fantastic team (especially Alandra, Mandy, Shamima (our server at dinner) and the Spirit Fitness Suite guy – I forgot to ask his name, and he was a total darling!
