The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘croydon’

Looking for a nightcap, a colleague and I headed into Daly’s Wine Bar on the Strand in London.  Modern, airy and spacious we were happy to get served quickly.  The down size, was the price of the round.  A vodka and tonic along with a brandy (originally served up in a lemonade glass, before I pointed out the brandy glasses) came to £9.60, which was frankly extortionate.  They weren’t even doubles!  The place was quiet, (not surprising given the prices) and the staff seemed a bit vacant, but nonetheless, I had a good time chatting to my old friend from Croydon.  I would not go out of my way to return to this place though because on top of the above, it didn’t seem to have any soul.

Pryordurkin rating. 1 Star.

It had been a long day at work and with some colleagues we ventured out into Croydon for something different to the usual Croydan Park Hotel Buffet. Having booked a table for 7pm we arrived just after 7.30 and were seated straight away. I had to ask the waiter to take my coat and he looked just a little put out but I let it pass. The table was small but thankfully had decent napkins. Regular readers will know just how much I hate those paper napkins usually served in cafes and restaurants.

We looked through the menus and they were very well laid out. They even had an index and some text apologising for the recent price increases. What was also quite good was that they gave an indication to the overall price you would pay for a typical meal that included a bottle of wine for two. At around £25 – £30, I thought this was refreshingly honest.

The orders placed we engaged in the relaxing and necessary ritual cliche based conversation, that is so common at these work events. The beer was flowing though and soon the conversation moved up the communication triangle we had learnt so much about earlier in the day and a little peak raport might just have crept in.

The food itself was different to what I was expecting. The Onion Bhajee starter I had was made up of sliced onion dipped in a batter made from Gram flour and then deep fried. It wasn’t to my taste. My main dish was a Chicken Masala which was cooked to a reasonable standard indeed. I skipped the usual frozen deserts on offer, now having filled my small petite tummy with two pints of Cobra!

The chef came out towards the end of the meal to check everything was fine and in true British style we all said yes.

Score: 3 Stars. Visited March 08.

The hotel is in a great location near East Croydon railway station and over the last few months I found myself staying a couple of nights every week. I recently won the wine draw and was upgraded to their Executive suite which was a welcome treat, but the trouble with the hotel if you stay there for any length of time is, it is just so boring. The restaurant serves the same buffet style food every night and while you can get bar meals or room service, the quality is variable.

The rooms are quite dated and for the business traveller who needs to charge laptops or telephones up, there is a distinct lack of power points. Those that do exist are positioned just under a very large metal bar, which actually prevents you getting anything in. Despite booking a King Size bed every time, I regularly get a room with two twins beds pushed together. This is quite annoying after a while especially when it comes with two single duvets. Not enough to wrap around you on a cold winters eve I find.

In essence though, because there are very few hotels in Croydon, your choice is limited and out of those that do exist, Croydon Park is one of the better options. However as mentioned, don’t expect an exciting time or interesting food.

Score: 2 Stars. Last visited February 08.

Well here I am again at the Croydon Park Hotel and the usual routine of taking dinner (on my own) in the restaurant leads me to practising (sometimes without much effort) the art of listening to other peoples conversations.  At this point I should of course tell you about my experience on the train down from Yorkshire this morning.  While working at my seat, I could clearly see the girl sat in front of me, sending text messages to her boyfriend.  She had quite a big phone and of course out the corner of my eye I could not help but notice what was being written.  Anyway, the text messages that were coming out of this otherwise petite and conservatively dressed girl would have shocked a Navi.  In essence it turned out the boyfriend was working up a sweat at the local gym while this girl was texting him.  She spent the next half hour sending messages describing just how hot under the collar she was getting thinking about him working up a sweat etc etc!  By the way, this is the clean version!  What would her mother say?  However it was entertaining and passed an otherwise normal mundane journey.

Anyway back to Croydon.  With my hobby of people watching now an established pastime, listening to the conversations taking place around me in restaurants proves to be as entertaining as any good Soap Opera.  This evenings installment went along the lines of.  Joe maybe gay, but hides it well, although everyone in the office thinks he should just come out and admit it.  Meanwhile Frank (the boss) is a useless manager, hopeless at motivating his staff and Amy (sat at the dinner table speaking) knows a big secret but she can’t tell.   Amy (bless her) kept plugging away at the fact that she knew a big secret, but unfortunately (for Amy) her colleagues weren’t biting or pushing to find out what it was.  The disappointment on her face was palpable.  Anyway, this is my life in a hotel.  It’s just like Crossroads and I am waiting for Benny to show up any minute.

PS.  Has anyone else noticed how when you get a group of work colleagues together on a train / in a hotel they all try just that little bit too hard to be outgoing/friendly/popular.  You can normally hear it happening.  Forced laughter, giggling and inane dribble being passed off as conversation.

PPS.  I’ve had had quite a fun day so am not grumpy before you ask!

This week has seen me sampling the pleasures of the Jury’s Inn, Croydon, a 12 storey soulless place. Arriving Tuesday after a long day was not a good start. Getting to the hotel at about 9.40pm I was incensed to discover they stop serving food in the restaurant at 9.30. Quickly thinking room service would then be an option, my mood worsened further when I discovered they don’t do no service at all. I was not a happy bunny.

The journey to the room consisted of a lift and a short walk down a long brightly lit corridor. It had all the charm of an old persons hospital but for the many kids who seemed to be coming and going everywhere.

The room itself was basic. It made travel lodge look positively up market. The blankets (no duvet) were stained; the bed cover had further marks on it. The sheets thankfully were fine. Still it had air conditioning and plenty of pillows. Thoughtfully they had stopped the window opening any more than a couple of inches in case I was minded to throw myself out.

Anyway, back to the main problem on the first night. Food. I hadn’t eaten properly all day, so was forced into taking drastic measures. The receptionist had the numbers for local takeaways and I eventually ordered a Pizza.

The rest of my stay in this ‘hotel’ was equally appalling. Most nights consisted of noisy neighbours banging doors and poor food. The restaurant staff were cheery and friendly but the food was basic and prepared from cheap ingredients.

By Thursday my patience finally gave up at 10.30pm when I could take the banging of doors by the kids running around everywhere no more. Jumping like a mad man out in the corridor I shouted at the unfortunate little lad who was about to enter the room next door. I said something along the lines of “If I hear another ^£&%£”&^%£ door bang, I will be in an ever more &*^%”&*^”% mood and god help you if that happens.” He looked a little shocked and while I paused for a moment to make sure he understood the message I could hear faint clapping coming from another room. There was no further door banging that night!

Unfortunately I can’t say I won’t be staying at this hotel again. If only because it is only 1 of 2 hotels in the whole of Croydon that supposedly cater for business people. If you know of others please do let me know. The other major hotel in Croydon that business people would normally stay at is closed at the moment because a crane fell on it and you already know what I think of the Hilton.

Score: 1 Star.

Checking into the Hotel yesterday, the reception process was quick and efficient. The chap on the desk new his stuff and was polite and professional. Unfortunately this was the highlight. Getting out the creaky life on the 1st floor, I could feel my mood sink rapidly. The corridor was long, dingy and dated. The carpet looked like it had seen to many stag or hen nights and the wallpaper should have been stripped of in the 70’s. The lighting only added to the misery as I headed towards my room.

The room was large in size and had a large queen sized bed but that was about the only thing that impressed. The TV reception was poor, the cleanliness of the room (especially behind the lamp stands and bed) was filthy and hadn’t seen a dusting for a good few months. The bathroom consisted of dated tiles and ceramics which included hairs left behind by the previous occupant. As usual in hotels of this sort the air conditioning didn’t actually cool, just recycled already too warm air. (Apparently hotels don’t seem to realise that they have to actually turn on the outside coolers to chill the air! – or they do, but choose not to save money).

Resigning myself to a miserable few days in this god forsaken hotel, I headed down to the gym to work out my frustration in the pool. Thankfully this was a better experience. Again the staffs were knowledgeable and friendly.

After that, it was time to check out the restaurant. It started badly and only got worse. Shown to my table I could see they were understaffed and overworked. The staff trying their hardest had no chance. Placing my order I settled back too tired to care. The food arrived (I had to remind them I was still waiting for my drink) and I started. At this point I heard an argument kicking of behind me. One of the BT engineers who had obviously been here a few days was finally giving up the will to smile. Shouting loudly that the food was disgusting he mouthed of at the waiters and stormed out the restaurant. It turned out that I should have followed. The food on my plate was luke warm and consisted of various portions of micro waved or fried food. Foul, foul, foul.

My drink arrived which incidentally was overpriced as usual for the quality presented.

Heading back to my room to finish my drink I’d had enough of today.

Breakfast turned out to be a bit of a surprise. It was actually quite nice with a good choice of healthy and traditional (un healthy) options.

The rest of my stay was pretty much the same. I will be pleased when the Croydon Park Hotel re-opens but in the meantime will find somewhere else to stay rather than return to this miserable place.

AMENDED. THURSDAY. I take it all back about breakfast. Today I was told to wait in the bar area because they had no tables ready. Along with three other business people we sat grumpily waiting to be seated. The ‘manager’ seemed to be making a crisis out of a hiccup, the place was chaotic.

Score: 0 Stars.