If you want to stay in the best hotel room in Britain, you’ll need to come to Leicester.
One of the city’s newest boutique hotels has just won the “best bedroom” accolade at the national Conference & Hospitality Show (CHS) Awards.
Winstanley House, which sits in historic Braunstone Park, beat the likes of the Hyatt Regency, in Birmingham and Coombe Abbey, Coventry, to pick up the award during a ceremony at The Royal Armouries in Leeds.
It also won the award for the best front-of-house team.
The 19 bedroom hotel opened 18 months ago, after a huge £2 million project to renovate run-down, arson hit Braunstone Hall.
The gardens have been re-landscaped, ballrooms added – designed to host two wedding receptions at once if need be – and there is now a well regarded steak restaurant called Black Iron, offering top quality food cooked in a charcoal-fired oven.
The bedrooms include two bridal suites in separate parts of the building, while next to the 40-seat restaurant is a private dining room that will hold 20.
Outside there is parking for 110 cars in the five acres of grounds, right in the heart of the 168-acre surroundings of parkland.
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Nightly rates start from around £80.
Managing director Kiran Parmar, whose property development family owns the hotel, said the best room award was won by one of the two suites.
He said: “It’s just a lovely room and is quite large - probably the size of a terrace house - and there’s even a lovely bath in the bedroom.
“The room is on the very top floor with lovely views and is booked out most nights of the week.
“It’s lovely to win this, because it’s a national award and we were one of the few independents, against quite a few big venues.”
He also said he was incredibly proud of the front-of-house team for their award.
He said: “They are passionate people who like working at the venue and love doing what they do.
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“It’s a good team. The hotel has been getting busier by the month and we have some great clients.”
There are 100 full and part-time staff at the hotel and Mr Parmar said he was proud to employ a lot of people from the surrounding area.
The hotel was renamed Winstanley House in honour of the family which built the grade II-listed hall and the idea was for a venue which would attract a range of customers, from walkers stopping off for a drink, to 450-guest weddings, and business people needing somewhere exclusive to stay or host meetings.