Bournemouth is a veritable smorgasbord of hotels but we were on the hunt for a stylish boutique hotel that would deliver an indulgent experience and personal service expected from a great London hotel but with sand between our toes. Luxe boutique hotel, Urban Beach, did just that.
A family run hotel, Mark Cribb the owner bought the Urban Beach - a traditional Victorian building - complete with chintzy furnishings before completing a complete refurb in 2006 that led to the place winning awards for its accommodation, bar and bistro. A pretty auspicious beginning. Mark wants you to have a great time and the informal and colloquial nature of the hotel’s website does a great job of communicating his vision for the place. If you’re looking for a cool hotel that refuses to skimp on comfort, that’s merely a hop, skip and a jump from a sandy beach and just over a mile to Bournemouth, then you should check in at the Urban Beach.
We won’t lie to you, the hotel is situated on the corner of suburbia, so no sea views and the local Boscombe high street is not much to shout about. However, with Bournemouth only down the road and short stroll down the hill to the beach we didn’t feel like this took away from the charm of the hotel or our enjoyment of our stay.
Take me to bed: The hotel has just 12 bedrooms in total, including two singles – which are very useful if a group of you are visiting or if you have an older child. We were lucky enough to get room number three with its squidgy six foot bed, huge windows and tres chic bathroom. Drama comes with the imposing black chandelier and some clever light switches that left me flummoxed but the boyfriend in gizmo heaven. Arran Aromatics provide the smellies in the spacious bathroom which brought a smile to my shower time as I’ve long been a lover of this brand since my days on the beauty desk. We had a bath with very fancy shower overhead but some of the rooms have just one or the other. Although are the bathrooms are exceptionally well laid out and fitted to a high spec. There was a music dock for our iPod and a big ol’ flat screen on the wall to play films following a day breaking our backs making sandcastles. Also, on returning from the beach one afternoon we ordered a couple of cocktails at the bar and as it wasn’t busy the girl kindly told us to go on up to our room and she’d hand deliver them. Lucky us!
