Overview

This is from memory from several months ago, for a long weekend. I (able-bodied) was travelling with someone chronically sick who can walk short distances but needs to be pushed in a wheelchair for anything longer. She didn't really use her wheelchair inside the "accessible" bedroom: I'm giving a fairly moderate score because we didn't actually make much use of the disabled facilities, so I'm not really sure how good they would be. Room decor a bit drab - standard Premier Inn sludgy browns and dull purple. The restaurant had fairly standard Premier Inn offerings - generally quite hefty meals and not many really healthy options, although we both managed to find something relatively light when we found ourselves unexpectedly having to eat in.

Transport & Parking

The hotel is in a shopping/entertainment/restaurant complex, St. Mark's Square, a stone's throw across the road from Bromley South railway station (which itself has platforms accessible by lift). There are also bus stops a little way up the High Street, and round the corner near the entrance to Simpson's Road. I had a look at the parking facilities on foot only. There is an attached underground car park which has disabled parking right next to the lifts. Those take you up to round the corner from the hotel entrance - but I'm not sure how you would deal with getting luggage into them, and into the hotel, if you were using a wheelchair, although experienced wheelchair users may well have found ways of doing these things. If you were coming from the station, it would be more or less flat (but not necessarily horizontal) access. However, the large-ish paving stones were mostly quite badly cracked and in need of replacement, which might have caused problems. The route goes through an enclosed area which was noisy (due to the eateries and the general acoustics) and might be unpleasant for people with sensory conditions. We arrived by taxi. There is a taxi drop-off point at the beginning of Simpson's Road, which is where life became fun. What isn't mentioned, and wasn't clear from the photos on the Premier Inn website, is that the hotel is up three flights of steps from the drop-off point. Yes, there are lifts, but these are situated several tens of metres away, which made things tricky. I left our luggage by the taxi, and pushed my companion over to the lifts, then returned and brought the bags over. Same at the top: pushed her over to the hotel entrance, then came back and collected the bags. This felt rather insecure: how would I have stopped someone from snatching the bags while I was otherwise occupied? There was fancy paving at piazza level outside the hotel which wasn't particularly comfortable for pushing the wheelchair over.

Access

Inside the hotel: a small "reception" area, with a few steps and a disabled lift up to a machine selling snacks, and I think a couple of loos. There was a seat or two. To the left, the restaurant/bar/breakfast area. Two lifts to the various floors (6, I think) are through a fire door - not sure how you get through one of those on your own in a wheelchair. "Accessible" bedroom (no. 111, I think, although it might have been 101), was right by the lifts and through a fire door. Not much leeway for manoeuvring a manual wheelchair past the bed and into the main bit of the room. A low-level hanging rail; desk, upright chair and a very heavy easy chair. Bed lower than mine in the non-"accessible" room (mine was distinctly high). Beds were indeed very comfortable, as per the adverts, and we both had good nights' sleep. En-suite bathroom very spacious, with a bath as requested - you can book a room either with bath or with walk-in shower, I believe. (We'd gone for the bath mainly because I understood that all the standard rooms had only a shower - this wasn't actually true, as mine had a bath with shower.) Lever tap on washbasin; loo appeared to have a widened flush handle and what I think is standard support rails on either side, including a fold-down one. Low-level bath had a shower attachment, a horizontal rail running along the wall the length of the bath, and a vertical grab rail near the taps. Think the non-tap end was gently sloping. There was a long flat area next to it with horizontal and vertical grab rails which I assume makes it easier to transfer in from a wheelchair.

Toilets

Didn't use any loos outside those in the rooms.

Staff

The staff were friendly and helpful. When it came to check-in, we discovered that the system(?) had put us on different floors (really not too clever, Premier Inn, given that one of the rooms we had booked was a disabled one!), but this was immediately noticed and changed so that we were merely a few rooms apart. You might want to make sure you get in early in the check-in period just in case something similar happens, because the more rooms they have free at the time the easier it will be to change things.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

Would we visit again? Probably not, and here's why (it was a VERY singular event). Unfortunately, while we were staying there a fire broke out in the block of flats immediately opposite. This meant that the flat access route was out of action, leaving us only the lifts down to street level. However, the fire brigade closed those off for the duration, leaving us with no way out of the complex. Although we were never in any danger, we were forced to stay within the hotel building because we were told that if we chose to leave they couldn't guarantee we'd be let back in. (The firefighters did offer to carry my companion and her wheelchair down all the flights of steps if we did want to go out, but she would have been exhausted by that and needing her bed). So we were actually stuck in the building for the best part of 24 hours, and felt distinctly trapped and potentially vulnerable. We hadn't considered the possibility of being unable to get out of the complex until then. Another time, I'd prefer somewhere with a few more escape routes, just in case!

Photos