Holiday Inn Express Barrow-in-Furness Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS EXPERIENCE WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST/S FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW.
Reviewed by Dottie Rood
It was a really lovely opportunity for me and my husband to visit Barrow-in-Furness to review Holiday Inn Express Barrow-in-Furness as we had not been here before.
The brand ‘Holiday Inn’, now owned by IHG, started way back in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson as an ‘affordable hotel where everyday families could enjoy a consistently clean and friendly environment’. Is this what we found in the Barrow-in- Furness branch? Oh yes and much more!
The staff were all very polite, friendly and accommodating, not only to us but I observed them being really helpful to a large family group who were eating in the restaurant as we were checking in. The Holiday Inn Express had a very welcoming atmosphere, and the entrance area (plus surrounding areas) were very clean and well run.
This holiday inn is perfectly situated for not only a vast number of well-known high-street shops within a minutes’ walk but also a number of ‘eateries’ and places to visit. Included in these there is the Dock Museum, Furness Abbey, Piel Island and South Lakes Safari Zoo to name a few. If you like walking (or just don’t like taking the car) you are able to walk to the Dock Museum and possibly even Furness Abbey! There is also a lovely walk over to Walney Island that has a choice of beaches on hand, this only took us 30 minutes from the hotel and was very pleasant.
They also promote the fact that they are only a 15-minute walk or a 5-minute drive from BAE (British Aerospace) systems and have a number of meeting rooms available. This might imply the hotel is in an industrial estate but far from it as directly opposite is Barrow-in-Furness Town Hall which is a stunning building. There are also some other rather nice buildings around which makes it pleasant to walk around.
Forum Theatre is also within sight of the hotel again making it an ideal location. In just a 20-minute drive you can access some of Britain’s most beautiful scenery, visit Windermere and maybe climb England’s highest mountain Scafell!
Back to the hotel! The room was clean, had ample room and was comfortable. It had coffee and tea facilities, air conditioning plus extra pillows and a small seating area with a table, all making it a relaxing room to be in. It also has a car park behind the building and if this is full there is a large car park really close by.
The hotel has a dining area, this is on the same floor as the reception and is bright and airy, it offers a good selection of ‘favourites’ such as fish and chips, burgers, pizzas, curries etc. It also has a ‘light’ bites menu which includes soups, jacket potatoes, loaded wedges, fish/chicken goujons plus sandwiches and paninis. For residents who are out late (for work or play!) there are a number of dishes available for 24 hours. These include most of the light bites (sandwiches, jacket potatoes, soups) some sharers (olives, loaded nachos) lots of pizzas, Beef brisket curry and Three bean chilli!
All guests receive breakfast and if you are not a guest it’s only £8 and all the food that we had was delicious and good value. The light bite menu is offered between 12pm-4pm and during this time they have H coffee club which sells drinks at £2.50 of which 20p per cup goes to St Mary’s Hospice.
Here, at Holiday Inn Express Barrow-in-Furness, they have board games, jigsaws, colouring books and children’s books for rainy days or bored children. It also has two ‘fruit’ & water stations which have free fruit and water for all. They also have weekend offers, Friday fish & chips 50% off, Saturday All burgers 50% off and Sunday All pizza’s 50% off, the full menu is available 12 noon until 9 pm.
I would highly recommend this Holiday Inn Express and would like to mention all the staff again. They were all cheerful, chatty, friendly and helpful and enhanced our visit.
Rating: 5/5
Room prices start at £96.00
Address: Holiday Inn Market Street Barrow-in-Furness LA14 2LR
Reservations: 080080800800 or contact: hello@hiexbarrowinfurness.co.uk