Clean, new, central and good value

Brand new and clean, opened in 2009, Jurys Inn hotel is ideal if you want to travel by train and have only a wheeled overnight bag, because the hotel's within walking distance of Watford Junction station which has a fast train into Euston, London. Drivers might find it nuisance that there's no parking on site. The nearby car park is £5 a night, so budget for that.The entrance hall is spacious, modern and slightly spartan. A couple of orchids sit on the reception counter. Modern chairs sit beside some plants. Around the corner are the bar and restaurant. Watford's Jurys hotel food was served until 10 pm. We found the staff very young and keen to help. They brought glasses of water to go with our meal without being asked, offered us a taste of the white wine by the glass as we wanted sweet and there were only two wines by the glass, house white and house red.My friends had baked potatoes in their jackets. One person chose cheese, another chose chicken as fillings. The cheese was more of a topping than a meal. But the salad was copious and after we shared desserts (I had half a cheesecake) we were sufficiently full.The restaurant had a burger and beer promotion. You could order cider. The barman had been on a course and knew kir royale but not how to make an ordinary kir which is usually at a lower price and therefore many people's first choice. The menus were hard to read because 6 point print becomes illegible in the dim light of the bar. We moved from the sports TV screen to an area where we could talk privately. Earlier in the evening in the bar and restaurant area we saw families with children; later the football crowd, northerners supporting their team and talking loudly and animatedly, swearing but good-humoured. At this point we left the rowdy crowd and walked round the corner to see Watford High Street, which is pedestrianized, and find out what we'd missed in the way of restaurants. Not much. Nandos. A Spanish tapas bar. Cheap and cheerful Italian place, Zinco pasteria, gave me their takeaway menu with a big smile. I remember two pubs. Yates, very busy outside and in, seemed to serve breakfast. The One Bell had a few smokers outside. Somebody thought they smelled marijuana. We saw a few police which is always both unnerving and reassuring. Lots of blaring music competing. Along the street a parade of boisterous teenage girls wearing high heels and short skirts and shorts (at midnight), reminiscent of a noisy beach resort. Taxis waited with snoozing drivers in the side road. We saw litter everywhere. I suppose Watford on Friday night is not much different from the centre of Newcastle or any other major small city. Watford's Harlequin Centre is an indoor shopping mall with coffee shops, one good Italian restaurant, and John Lewis at one end, is closed at night. At this point our hotel with its massive gold pillars and clean white floors had transformed itself in our eyes from 'spartan but tries hard three star' into 'a haven of five star elegance and excellence'.Bedrooms. TV. Coffee maker with four mini milks, just enough for two coffees for two people on arrival at bedtime and for two people next day before checking out. (If you get the bargain room rate, the price does not include breakfast. If you are dashing off for an early train without breakfast, look for the bargain rates.)The table has one upright chair, not two. But there's a lower double-seat sofa. Bathrooms. Shower not quite as strong as most power showers but pleasant. The handy full bottle of shower gel is attached to the wall bside another of shampoo-conditioner. No weeny bottles to take home but you never run out or find the bottle is on the basin and not by the shower. Enough towels (one large, two small) for one full size person and two midgets. The perfect place for a clean weekend. If you know what I mean.

A User - 12/05/2009 | report this review