Premier Travel Inn

Newton Aycliffe, Durham, England North East

Recommendation added: 02/02/2006 22:16
By: yampy (YSUK rating +9)

yampy has been thanked 5 times for this contribution

"We have just come back from a visit to our family up north in County Durham and we stayed there for two nights in a Premier Travel Inn. This was situated at Newton Aycliffe, which is listed under Durham on the Premier Travel Inn website, and is about 12 miles south of Durham, 20 minutes approximately. It is less than a 2 miles from the A1(M), seven miles north of Darlington on the A167, I have put the full address and telephone number at the end of this review. In the surrounding area, and all within 25 miles of Newton Aycliffe, there are plenty of places of interest to visit such as Beamish Museum at Stanley and Croft Motor Circuit just south of Darlington, Barnard Castle and Raby Castle are close by, and of course there are several places to visit at Durham. The Metro-Centre is about 31 miles north and is our favourite shopping centre anywhere.

It had taken us six and a half hours to drive up to Newton Aycliffe and it was dark when we arrived but we had no problems finding the hotel as it was well lit. The car park was nearly empty and had several parking bays painted for the disabled which were the closest to the main entrance. Although the hotel states that it does not have any rooms adapted for the disabled you can always request a room on the bottom floor which is what we did. The reception was very small but the welcome was polite, warm and sincere from the check in lady who was very bright and bubbly. We had already booked our stay, for my wife daughter and myself, a week before on the internet at premiertravelinn.com this only took about two minutes to finalise and made it easier for the lady to get our details up on the computer screen. There was plenty of leaflets and brochures on view of all the local places of interest, attractions and historical buildings.

You could get chilled soft drinks from the machine in reception as well as sweets, crisps and chocolate. We were asked if we would like to order breakfast but could not decide at that time and were told not to worry as we could just turn up in the restaurant the next morning anyway. Breakfast is at 7:00 till 9:00 Mon to Fri and 8:00 till 10:00 Sat, Sun and Bank holidays. For £6.95 you get full breakfast and you can choose from Cumberland sausage, back bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomato, beans, bloomer bread toast, croissant, muffins, preserve, Marmite, yoghurt, fruit salad and a variety of Kellogg's cereals. Or you could choose from the Continental buffet at £5.25 that is the same as the full breakfast but without the fry up, there is plenty of fruit juice, tea and coffee all freshly made. One important point to note is that if you have children under ten then they eat free, and they can choose anything from the full breakfast range and up to four children can eat for free when one adult purchases a full breakfast.

The Inn has 45 rooms on two floors and we were given our key to room six on the bottom floor and cost £46.95 for the three of us per night, it would have been the same price if we had two children, (aged 15 and under), because all family rooms have a fold down sofa bed big enough for two. The room was medium sized, bright, clean and well decorated and had a king sized bed that was very soft springy and fairly high against one wall with a wall light fitted to each side. A fairly new looking Gideons holy bible was on the bedside cabinet on oneside of the bed. All rooms in the 460 Premier Travel Inns nationwide have En suite bathroom with bath and shower, colour remote controlled TV's, tea and coffee making facilities, heater controls and a long desk and table. There were two mirrors in the room with another two wall lights on either side of them, the thermostat could be set to a maximum of 23 degrees which was very pleasant for us up north from the south.

The window, which only opened to about six inches with it being on the ground floor and a security risk, overlooked fields so there were no sounds to be heard at all. The room was a no smoking room and had the smoke alarm fitted just outside the bathroom door which was a silly place to fit it because if you had just had a shower and left the door open then the steam would let of the alarm, well that's what we were told by the lady at reception. There was plenty of space to hang your clothes and ample shelf space, no trouser press, iron or hair dryer in the rooms. The small kettle three mugs and plenty of tea, coffee and milk was a very welcome sight after our very long weary drive. Three bath and three hand towels were neatly folded on shelves in the very clean and bright bathroom, that looked very shiny and new. A shower gel dispenser was fixed to the wall above the bath and a foaming soap dispenser was above the wash basin.

A shaver point with 115v/230v is available next to the strip light above the very large well lit mirror. One minor point was that when running a bath it seemed to take forever, and don't forget to keep the bathroom door closed because of the smoke alarm. The colour television only had the five basic channels but did have a very bright LED clock at the bottom which was handy. The lights in the room when they were all lit did not brighten the room that much because these establishments always fit the bulbs with the least amount of wattage as possible. We did notice that the room door was wide enough for a wheelchair to pass through, no pets are allowed except for assistance dogs. Rooms are available from 2:00pm daily but let the hotel know if you will arrive after 11:00pm, you vacate rooms by 12:00 noon on your day of departure.

Next to The Premier Travel Inn, and sharing the same car park, was the Two for One restaurant which could hold up to about eighty guests and was a very welcome sight as we were dropping off and could of eaten a horse. Most Travel Inns have restaurants and include Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Millers Pub and Restaurant, Chef & Brewer, Bar Est and many more but not all are licensed. Two for One bars and restaurants are part of Spirit Group Ltd who have 1,820 pubs, bars and restaurants nationwide. They are the managed division of Punch Taverns, the UK's leading pub company with over 9,500 pubs altogether. Unlike other Two for One restaurants that we had been to in this one you could sit at a table as soon as it became available which meant that, even though the place was near enough full, we got seated straight away. There was an area at one end of the bar where you could just sit and drink, there were three tables, a pool table but with a very smokey atmosphere.

Starters ranged from Soup of the Day, Prawn Cocktail, Cajun Chicken Salad, Beef Chilli Nachos to Tuna melt Bruschetta or Mushroom melt Bruschetta, (Vegetarian) prices from £2.05 to £3.45. You could have 'Sharers', as the name implies you share with a friend or family depending on which one you choose, you could have Combo for two at £6.45 this includes strips of chicken served with salad, onion rings, breaded mushrooms, potato wedges, barbecue chicken wings and garlic bread with barbecue dips. Two other 'Sharers' are Mega Family Feast at £9.95 and Sharing Nachos at £6.50. The Two for One main course menu is a bit to long to list here so I'll be brief and just list the main sections and a couple of the dishes. Favourite Meals have fish and chips, chicken and bacon pie, cottage pie and steak and ale pie, with several other whole hearty dishes in the price range of £6.95 to £11.65. Then there's the Tastes from around the World, self explanatory, prices are from £7.35 to £8.95.

The Grill part of the menu is the dearest as to be expected and they have a great variety of steak dishes to choose from ranging from £8.45 for a 10oz Gammon Steak to £12.25 for a 16oz Rump Steak. If you fancy a bit on the side try the sautéed mushrooms and onion rings at £1.35 and a whole host of other tempting sauces, dips, chips and salads. Don't forget when you order two main courses you get the cheapest meal free. They do Two for One light meals and a very good selection of children's meals. Desserts are to die for and include Hot Jaffa Pudding £2.65, Chocolate Fudge Cake £2.55 and Profiteroles £2.65 and many more mouth watering puds. You order when you like at the counter at the end of the bar and you can pay with all the main credit cards then you can sit back with your drink and wait about twenty minutes to half a hour for the meals to arrive, and they looked very impressive indeed. They stop serving at 9:30pm. Then it's back to our room to sleep it all off.

We had a very pleasant nights sleep with no disturbances and went to breakfast which was most enjoyable. I almost forgot to mention that you can open a business account with The Premier Travel Inn by calling this number 087060 88 666 or log on to their website which I have put below. Also enjoyEngland work with The Premier Travel Inn and give you plenty of ideas for leisure breaks that range from family fun days to historical attractions and local events if you want more information give their website a visit listed below. Leisure Vouchers are also available for your stay at Premier Travel Inns and can be used at so many places of interest, attractions and eating and drinking outlets all around the country, you could always give their website a visit it is listed below. You will find in your room a Premier Travel Inn comment card that asks about your arrival, the bedroom, the breakfast/restaurant and the overall value for money you got from your stay.

I would recommend Premier Travel Inn to any traveller wanting a pleasant one or two days stay in a very cosy room. It makes a very good base, at a very good price, to return to after spending all day visiting friends and family or even after a planned weekend visit to all the local attractions.

www.premiertravelinn.com
Central Reservations Service
Tel:- 0870 2428000

Premier Travel Inn,
Great North Road,
Newton Aycliffe,
County Durham
DL5 6JG
Tel:- 08701 977 085
Fax:- 01325 324910

www.leisurevouchers.co.uk
Tel:- 0870 2420066"