Hotel du Vin Bristol City Centre

Opened in the early 1990s, the Bristol Hotel du Vin is one of the chain’s first hotels. Like other hotels in the Hotel du Vin chain, this hotel offers a unique experience with a high standard of accommodation in a quirky building that has been renovated to maximise the hotel’s ambience.

The hotel is located inside the 18th-century Lewins Mead Sugar House, which was formerly a sugar refinery processing sugar cane imported from sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

The 40 air-conditioned hotel rooms all have big comfortable king-size beds, a work desk, a plasma TV, tea and coffee making facilities including Nespresso coffee machines and a large en suite bathroom with a free-standing roll-top bath and a walk-in monsoon shower.

Although there is a lift to all floors, the hotel does not have any wheelchair-accessible rooms.

Like other hotels in the Hotel du Vin chain, the emphasis here is on quality food and wine and Bistro du Vin, the hotel’s restaurant, is well regarded.

Bistro du Vin is a French-style bistro with an extensive wine list. The food can be good value compared with other restaurants of a similar standard, particularly if you eat from the prix fixe menu. The food here is primarily French classics alongside traditional British dishes and it is noted for its signature Sunday lunch (which you can also get at other branches of Hotel du Vin).

The hotel also has a bar with a cosy atmosphere with exposed brick walls, polished floorboards and comfortable leather sofas. The bar has a more casual menu than the restaurant and a large selection of gin, rum and whisky.

Even if you’re not staying here, it is worth popping in for the bar and restaurant or for Hotel du Vin’s excellent (but pricey) afternoon tea, which is served daily from noon till 5pm.

Hotel du Vin doesn’t have any of the extra features in its public areas that you find in other hotels in the same price range. This means that you won’t find a swimming pool, spa or a gym here but it does mean that the hotel can focus on the areas that matter the most such as the rooms and the bar and restaurant.

The hotel is on a quiet cobblestone street in the Lewins Mead neighbourhood and from here it is just over a five-minute walk into the city’s main shopping district. Despite a busy road running past the hotel, Lewins Mead is a charming part of town and there is a lot of interest within a short walk from the hotel and the lovely Christmas Steps area is only a one-minute walk away.

It is well placed if you’re travelling by bus or coach as it is only a five-minute walk from Bristol Bus and Coach Station (which is where you can catch buses to the airport). There are also a couple of rental car places nearby if you want to take a day trip out to explore the Gloucestershire and Somerset countryside.

Photos: Hotel du Vin [CC BY-ND 2.0]