Sandman Signature Hotel Newcastle:

Sandman Signature Hotel Newcastle

A row of flames gently burning along the ground level window sills at the Sandman Signature Hotel is very welcoming sight on a bitterly cold late afternoon in Newcastle. A full-sized model of a horse with a lamp shade protruding from its skull alerts you to the fact that the Sandman Signature Hotel Newcastle is not a standard, run-of-the-mill four star hotel.

Sandman Signature Hotel is contemporary, luxurious, unusual but very friendly. The bedrooms are spacious and stylish, modern and well-appointed with the latest technology including a flat screen television, an i-pod docking station and complimentary wi-fi. Each bedroom also has a microwave as standard. Bathrooms are ‘shower-only’. There are none with baths. The suites – for a very small supplement – include a fully equipped kitchen as well.

Sandman Signature Newcastle is the first venture by the Canadian-based hotel group into the UK and Europe. They have converted the former headquarters building of the Scottish and Newcastle Brewery into a 175 bedroom four-star hotel. The hotel is not fully open yet. There are bedrooms up as far as the seventh floor at the moment with the balance scheduled to open later in the spring.

There will be some small meeting rooms but these are not available just yet either and a complimentary fitness room. On the ground floor is the Shark Club Gastro Bar, a sports bar with television screens around the walls and over the bar. Breakfast is served in the same room. The Sandman Signature does offer 24-hour room service if peace and quiet is more your style.

What else is there to say? The Sandman Signature Newcastle is literally across the road from St James’s Park football stadium. It has its own car park – unusual for a city centre hotel. It is a five minute walk through Newcastle’s ChinaTown to Central Station. It is a very interesting and competitively priced hotel.

Details: www.sandmansignature.co.uk