Travel Daily Review: Mercure Paignton
Mercure Hotel Opens in Paignton, the heart of the English Riviera
Team Travel Daily were invited to the visit the new Mercure in Paignton recently.
The four star Mercure is part of the Accor Group, who have hotels worldwide and are well known for their world leading hospitality.
Along with the Mercure, the Accor Group have also recently opened a 3 star Ibis styles right next door, dramatically changing and modernising the landscape of Paignton Seafront.
Paignton is currently undergoing a period of transformation with Torbay Council securing £13.36m Future High Streets Funding . With other public and private investment too, this is a really exciting time for the town.
Paignton has long sandy beaches and a lovely flat promenade to stroll along and really encompasses the the Great British seaside!
The Mercure sits in prime position, overlooking the pier and beach in Paignton. You really couldn’t be better situated to explore the English Riviera and all it has to offer.
The hotel opened in April last year so has a fresh and modern feel, with some art deco inspired features. The reception area is a spacious, welcoming, open plan area and the bar and restaurant are located adjacent to this.
Beautiful artwork by local artist Emma Carter Bromfield, which really reflect the immediate area, adorn the walls of the communal areas of the hotel.
Stay
We stayed in a privilege room on the third floor. You are immediately drawn to the floor to ceiling windows with beautiful views over the bay. We arrived when it was dark so only had the twinkling lights along the seafront and those that shone from distant Devon fishing villages to see, but it was lovely to draw back the thick black out curtains and be greeted with the sea view in the morning.
The navy and gold theme runs throughout the hotel, all the way to the guest rooms giving that luxurious & stylish, yet comfortable feel.
The rooms are extremely spacious with a comfy chair near the window and a desk area as well as a huge tv on the wall. Our room had a nice contemporary bathroom with large walk in shower. Privilege rooms also come complete with a Nespresso machine, fluffy robes and complimentary soft drinks in the mini fridge.
Standard rooms are similar in style, but aren’t sea facing.
Dining
We gazed, longingly, through the cold and drizzle at the beautiful sun terrace at the front of the hotel pondering how nice it would have been to have dined outside on an early summer’s evening or enjoyed something cold and fizzy.
As it was, we were constrained to the restaurant, Latitude 50, which was no chore. Bright and airy, the restaurant and bar is a comfy spot for a drink, afternoon tea or dinner.
Latitude 50 describes itself as an Italian and Seafood Restaurant, with the menu a tribute to Mediterranean flavours using local ingredients.
We relaxed on one of the comfy sofas with an aperitif before taking our seat in the restaurant.
The menu was varied with plenty of choice for any diner. There were delicious looking starters, pasta, pizza, ciabattas, salads, a grill section as well as the main courses which included things like ox cheek and mash and wild mushroom risotto.
We shared a starter of Calamari with a lovely lemon and garlic dip.
Our main course choices were rump steak with tomatoes and rocket and a side of parmesan fries, as well as salmon supreme which came with a really delicious Tuscan butter sauce and spinach.
The Italian inspired deserts were hard to choose between but in the end we opted for Chocolate & Hazelnut which was velvety smooth chocolate mousse with crunchy hazelnut pieces. This was a very good choice!
The hotel is very family friendly and they have a great children's menu in the restaurant.
Little ones can pick between 'finger food' things like burgers, fish goujons; 'bowl food', scampi and mac n cheese, Spring Tabbouleh; 'flat breads' ham and mushroom, margarita or Vegan Spinach & Chargrilled Sprouting. And of course a good selection of sweets to finish with.
Just to add, as well as being family friendly, the hotel is also very dog friendly. If you book a pawsome pet experience you will receive a pet welcome pack which includes suggested walking routes, ensuring your pets are ready to roam and discover the area. How cute is that?!
On a practical level, the hotel has a very handy car park that sits underneath the building with easy access for all straight into the reception area via a lift or stairs.
There is also a small gym available for guests to use 24 hours a day.
Things to do
As a location, this hotel is in pole position to consider other adventures such as Dartmoor, wine tasting at Sandridge Barton, the Cathedral City of Exeter, the South Hams and even Cornwall for those prepared to travel a little further.
Not to mention the UNESCO Global Geopark right on the doorstep. There are so many ways to get out and explore, take to the waters on a boat trip or on kayaks and venture out onto the beautiful South West Coast Path and take in the views.
The Mercure Paignton makes a fantastic base to explore and take in all that Devon (and Cornwall) has to offer.
We thoroughly enjoyed our experience at the Mercure Paignton and we would recommend a stay here at any time of year.
