Some premier family time in Northumberland

The Bailey family are on holiday, and it is a rare occasion for all three of us to be away from home at the same time. We’ve driven up to Northumberland, all the way from Kent stopping off for the night at Harrogate, in order to break the journey. There will be a similar arrangement next Saturday, on the return journey, with a night at Huntingdon (junction of A1 and A14) pre-booked.

Three different Premier Inns are involved as part of this trip, with the main one being our current resting place at Alnwick. It’s turned out to be a good choice, but then again, it’s a new hotel, unlike the one at Harrogate where we stayed on Sunday evening. The hotel was looking a bit tired, but that wasn’t a problem, instead the issue which seemed to get everyone’s goat was the lack of hot food in the evening.

I found out the hard way, when I called in at the restaurant shortly after our arrival, in order to book a table. I discovered, to my horror that unless I’d pre-ordered a “meal deal” in advance, the family and I would be unable to eat. I was told it would be fine to have a drink in the pub, but we all wanted something more substantial than crisps or nuts. Talking further to the staff member acting as “front of house” I learnt that Premier Inns are closing a significant number of the pubs attached to the hotels and converting them into additional accommodation. This arrangement only applies to those outlets where the pub/restaurant forms an integral part of the building. 

So, in the case of Premier Inn’s Harrogate South outlet, the former pub, that was popular with, and well patronised by, local people, as well as hotel guests, is basically no more. Staff had already received redundancy notices, and the rump restaurant, plus the hotel, were ticking over with a skeleton crew. Understandably, morale was at an all time low, so the workforce could obviously be forgiven, if their hearts weren’t exactly in it. 

As for our meal that night, the fact that we’d checked in on a Sunday didn’t help, as the only restaurant within easy walking distance - a rather good-looking Italian place was closed. The worthy citizens of Harrogate must be proper god-fearing folk, for not trading on the Lord’s Day!  Of course, there was nothing stopping me from jumping in the car and driving off in search of a fast-food outlet, but having just completed a 200 + mile journey up from Kent, driving was the last thing I felt like doing. Matthew had better luck though, as he managed to get a Domino’s Pizza delivered, courtesy of Just Eat.

I was up bright and early the following morning, and set off, on foot, in search of some breakfast. Google Maps showed there was an M&S Foodhall, just 10 minutes’ walk away, which meant I was able to bring home the bacon for myself and the rest of the family, even if it was just a couple of bags of croissants! I’d probably got the better deal, as one couple Mrs PBT’s spoke to just after we checked out, reported that the breakfast was poor value to money. Gone was the “all you can eat” option, replaced by a carefully proportioned “rationed” offer of a single rasher of bacon, a fried egg, a single sausage, plus two slices of toast.

The harassed staff member I spoke to the previous evening said the hotel was struggling with staff number, following a round of redundancies – hardly conducive to running an efficient business in the cutthroat hospitality business. She told me the hotel was struggling to operate with reduced staffing levels, and whilst she was doing her best to remain upbeat, there did seem to be an air of despondency about the place.

The following day, we drove a further 116 miles along the crowded and  at times, very busy A1, to the pleasant market town of Alnwick, our base for the next five days. I have never been this far north in England before, although I have travelled through the area, by train several times, on visits to Edinburgh. Those journeys along the East Coast Mainline highlighted the beauty of this stretch of coastline, and as mentioned in another post, a conversation with our neighbour, over the garden fence helped make up our minds to visit Northumberland  on our next UK trip away.

The drive up to Alnwick took longer than planned, due to roadworks in the Newcastle area – next time we shall listen to what the Sat-Nav is telling us. Fortunately, the town’s Premier Inn exceed our expectations, and was in a different league to the one we had left behind in Harrogate. 

Modern, and functionally stylish, the hotel offered everything that the one in Harrogate could not, which is just as well, given that we booked in for a five night’s stay. Although it is necessary to pre-book an evening meal at Alnwick, its modern restaurant, with its well-thought-out food offering, demonstrates just what was missing at Harrogate. Perhaps once the alterations have taken place at the latter, the outlet will find its mojo again and get back on its feet.

We’ve one more Premier Inn to experience on this holiday, and that is the one at Huntingdon. But as that is just a stopover on our journey home, it doesn’t really matter, as long as it is clean and not too noisy. Our experiences with the Premier chain this week, highlight the differences existing within a chain that is built on providing a standardised approach to the overnight hospitality business. They also reinforce my approach to staying away from home, which is to go for an independent outlet, even if it does mean taking the occasional punt.

As far as the local attractions are concerned, we are really impressed with Alnwick. In addition, we've enjoyed a walk along the lovely, unspoilt, sandy beach at Alnmouth, had a posh fish-finger sandwich, plus a pint of locally brewed Tyneside Blonde from Hadrian & Border Brewery, at the Olde Ship Inn at Seahouses, where we sat out soaking up the sun in the secluded spot behind the pub, overlooking the harbour.

We also made a short trip across the border into Scotland. Stopping for coffee and cake at the harbour side village of Eyemouth, the first settlement of any size as you cross into Scotland. It was very pleasant sitting out in the warm early September sunshine, looking out across the narrow harbour.  There were even a couple of seals swimming lazily in the water. We found a baker’s selling coffee and some rather nice cakes, before embarking on the return journey back to Alnwick, via Berwick.

Disappointingly, we failed in our quest to visit Bamburgh, as both roads leading into the village from the A1 were closed by roadworks. Similarly, the sheer volume of traffic, heading back along the narrow road from Holy Island, plus the warning warnings about not getting caught out on the causeway by the tide, put us off from visiting Lindisfarne.

There’s still time for another attempt at Holy Island, although not today, as the weather has taken a turn for the worse, with drizzle blowing in from the North Sea. Not exactly conducive for sight-seeing!