Hotel Review: The Cathedral Hotel, Salisbury
Posted on 01 July 2010 with no comments from readers
Anybody looking for a four or five star hotel in Salisbury is going to be disappointed. This Wiltshire county town might be the closest place to stay to see the UK’s most popular tourist attraction, Stonehenge, but its hotel facilities have barely improved in half a century.
Well, at least that is true in terms of the buildings and room sizes. The interiors have undergone significant modifications, and one of the most recently modernized is The Cathedral Hotel, opposite the rather more famous and expensive Red Lion, formerly a coaching inn before automobiles ran on the roads of the city.
New interior
The modernized interior of The Cathedral Hotel is limited by the original bedroom sizes but otherwise has become a haven of modern minimalism, the style that is so triumphant inside the newest hotels in Dubai.
It also has to be said that the hotel rooms are spotlessly clean. This reviewer looked very hard to find some dust and dirt but everything shone like a fresh apple. Somebody has been working very hard to achieve this standard.
The equipment level is also not bad with a small flat screen TV and a useful ironing board and iron as well as extensive tea and coffee making facilities. In the bathroom there were some sweet-smelling soaps and shampoo along with fluffy white towels and a hot rail.
And so to bed
The bed was adequate in size but made up with crisp white cotton sheets and a bed spread that matched the new curtains. Shades of dark red, brown and cream made this small space as relaxing as possible.
On the ground floor downstairs all the walls have been removed to create one huge reception room cum bar cum restaurant, together with a conservatory at the back which doubles as a breakfast room, included in the standard Internet room rate.
Now a visitor from Dubai still finds Dhs300 a little high for a room and breakfast. In Dubai there are five-star establishments currently offering a better rate. But then what Salisbury has at this time of year is an abundance of cool, fresh air, and that cannot be found outside of air-conditioned rooms in Dubai at this time of year.
