Leisure

The Maldron Magic

Issue 79

Since opening for business in 2018, Newcastle's Maldron hotel has been making all the right noises offering deluxe accommodation to the discerning business and leisure traveller.

The four star hotel sits at the heart of the city’s Newgate Street and is within merely minutes’ walk of the city’s parade of shops, restaurants, bars and popular tourist attractions.

Uniquely, the hotel was the first of its kind to open in mainland UK, as part of Ireland’s largest hotel group, Dalata, and unsurprisingly has spawned a number of sister venues. One such hotel is the Manchester Maldron which I have booked into for the hotly anticipated Queen & Adam Lambert concert later this month so was keen to road test the chain’s Newcastle outpost in expectation.

My wife Lisa and I were certainly not disappointed.

The hotel comprises 265 rooms including double, twin, triple, family and executive rooms. These are stylish spaces punctuated by the trademark Maldron yellow and very well equipped with flat screen TVs, tea & coffee facilities and en-suite bathrooms with rainfall showers. In a nod to the area’s heritage, many of the hotel’s showpiece rooms are named after Tyneside legends including industrial designer Sir William Armstrong, railway pioneer Robert Stephenson, architect John Dobson and property developer Richard Grainger. Suffice to say, the Bruno Guimarães suite could be next on the agenda.

Our overnight stay wasn’t just a pre holiday recon mission meanwhile and was also our basecamp before and after viewing the acclaimed Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal. The hotel’s Grain & Grill restaurant proved the perfect spot for a pre-dinner bite with an extensive evening menu in full swing.

The concept here is simple. The grill at the heart of the restaurant seals in the flavour of a selection of prime meats and fish, locking in the juices of deliciously healthy, full flavoured dishes crafted by chefs with locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients. The ‘grain’ meanwhile refers to a number of complementary beers and spirits from popular favourites to local brews. Alas. Fans of ‘The Grape’ are also well looked after with a stunning selection of wines available. To give you a flavour, I enjoyed the homemade soup of the day (tomato and red pepper) with a fat hunk of stodgy sourdough before following up with the signature chicken ‘hanging’ skewers with chorizo, sweet peppers and smoky BBQ dip. Mrs G elected for the bruschetta with garlic bread and French dressing followed by the smoked salmon with sundried tomatoes, courgette and red onion Hollandaise sauce. It is also worth mentioning the restaurant’s precocious 17 year old waiter Clinton who looked after us superbly for the duration of our meal and was an absolute credit to the hotel.

After a showstopping performance of the award-winning west end show Beautiful – we collapsed into bed for a full eight hours sleep and couldn’t believe how peaceful it felt for downtown Newcastle.

The following morning, we enjoyed a superb cooked breakfast whilst also noting an outdoor courtyard area for al fresco drinking and dining which also appeared to be a hit with the city’s business folk for meetings and laptop working. It hasn’t taken long then for the hotel to endear itself to its swanky intra-city clientele.

Yellow are its colours but the Maldron team have struck gold!

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