Turn a family day trip into a weekend break by the sea and discover the charms of Brighton, by staying at an affordable hotel, or grab your hens and stags and make the most of the budget prices!
Always keen to get out of smoky London and breathe in some sea air, my husband and I, plus our two kids and our baby bump joined the (extortionately priced) train from London Bridge to Brighton. Several hours and a rail replacement bus service later we were dropped pretty much slap bang outside of the new Jury's Inn. Therein lies the biggest plus point about the hotel, its ideal location.
The Jury's Inn in Brighton is excellent value and by avoiding the premium of the seafront, is able to offer rooms for £69. It is ideal for stag and hen parties (which we saw in plentiful supply) and couples or workers looking for somewhere clean and comfy to bunker down between exciting adventures/nights out/seminars.
For our little tribe of five (well, four and a half), the room was a manageable squeeze. The two kids had a double sofa bed and the two adults and bump had a surprisingly large and comfy double bed. The bathroom was clean and large enough for a family to use, with a better-than-expected shower to boot.
It was actually great fun all sharing a room, sleepover style, despite our initial reservations about the size. The only downside was the tag-team snoring going on between my husband and my five-year-old son!
Sadly, one sore point was the food. By offering extravagantly titled, expensively priced but poorly executed food, a real trick has been missed. I had to send my Thai fishcake starter back as it was cold in places, my husband's King Prawns came with a strange choice of sour cream, rather than any spicy dipping sauce, and my chicken main course had a worrying pink tinge.
The kids, of course, noshed their chicken nuggets and chips down, but it was unclear who the main meals would appeal to. It was too expensive to entice the bargain room-hunters and certainly not worth a special visit by non-guests. What a shame the Inn did not opt to offer good, basic grub at affordable prices: Ham, egg and chips, ploughmans, good scampi...instead of trying (and failing) to be something it isn't.
The staff were friendly and welcoming, but service was very slow considering the number of empty tables.
The breakfast, by contrast, was exactly as it should be: a vast buffet of cereal, toast, croissants, bacon and eggs with all the trimmings, fruit juice, cheese, yoghurt, muffins...good honest, filling food and lovely, friendly, attentive waiting ladies. The dinner could take a lesson from the breakfast.
Brighton is a fantastic choice for a family day out, but the yawning slog on public transport from London or further, makes a cheap, comfy hotel room a very welcoming idea, and by opting to eat out in the city - or ideally, strolling on the beach eating vinegary chips with cold fingers - and using the hotel as a base, you can turn a fun day out into a really memorable weekend break.
For more information, see http://brightonhotels.jurysinns.com