Best Western New Kent Hotel

“SUPERB VALUE FOR MONEY, COMFORTABLE, WITH EXCELLENT FRESHLY COOKED BREAKFAST!”

PROS: 1) Inexpensive rate included full English breakfast 2) Comfortable bed 3) Well appointed bathroom 4) Great shower with plenty of hot water! 5) Full size bath 6) Wardrobe with plenty of hangers (!) 7) Situated in a wealthy area of Newcastle 8) 5-10mins drive maximum from the City Centre, tr… more

PROS: 1) Inexpensive rate included full English breakfast 2) Comfortable bed 3) Well appointed bathroom 4) Great shower with plenty of hot water! 5) Full size bath 6) Wardrobe with plenty of hangers (!) 7) Situated in a wealthy area of Newcastle 8) 5-10mins drive maximum from the City Centre, traffic dependent. 9) Close to some very good restaurants 10) In house Indian restaurant....didn't try, but NO smells from it in the rooms or hotel. 11) Wonderfully friendly and helpful staff. 12) FRIED BREAD YAY!!!! CONS: 1) No lift (stated in hotel information) 2) Parking is limited, especially when the in house Indian Restaurant is working. 3) Unregulated heating temperature in the room (central control). My wife and I stayed for 4 days from 30th October to 2nd November, 2025. We stayed in room 17. Room 17 is on the first floor, towards the back of the property. The view isn't great, but the room is quiet and well appointed. It is smallish, but definitely big enough for two people. The bathroom is modern and excellently appointed. (The only issue is the loo has low water pressure and takes ages to refill the cistern.) There's a rainfall shower and a spray head too. The bath is full size (we didn't try it due to time, so showers were the order of the day). The bed is very comfortable, if you like a firm bed instead of a sponge. The bed is a standard size double, which after our super-king bed at home was ok. Saying that the bed is very comfortable is a great compliment. Our bed at home, is from Harrods and cost more than the average small car. Thus, this is a very solid test for me. (We have a very expensive bed because I sleep very little so need top quality sleep.) There is a slight downside if you like a cool room. The radiator, has got a valve, but whilst we were there, some guests moaned about it being cold, despite 16 deg C outside. Reception bumped up the heating to accommodate 2 guests and fried everyone else! However, I think, when Newcastle's weather reflects the normal temperatures for late Autumn/early winter, this won't be an issue. Dr. Shaheen (he has a PhD in business from Newcastle University) was on reception when we arrived. We had a great chat, because I completed a PhD from an elite University too. However, he was still very friendly and helpful before we started chatting about my youngest son's studies, whom we were visiting. This brings me to another star of the show.....Susan, who serves breakfast so efficiently and with a lovely smile every morning. She also mans the reception desk outside of breakfast hours. Susan was always happy to meet our requests, adapting our breakfasts to our preferences. I always say a test of a good hotel breakfast is whether they will make me fried bread and an egg with the centre burst and well done. You'd be surprised how many hotels won't comply, even some mid-price range hotels won't put themselves out. Well, firstly, beautifully cooked fried bread is actually part of the full English breakfast, and secondly, I had my egg fried to perfection. All breakfasts are MADE to ORDER which means it's hot, and not dried up like many hotels who batch cook. Breakfast can be Continental, but we have this virtually every day at home, so a fry up is a guilty pleasure when we're away. There are about 4 or 5 good quality cereals if you want before your hot breakfast, and some fresh fruit. Natural yoghurt is on request. We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfasts at the New Kent because they were good quality, plentiful (for normal people) and served with a smile! Thank you Susan! There is an in-house Indian restaurant, but because we were out and about with our undergraduate son we didn't try it. However, judging by the fact that you can't get parked after 1900hrs, it's clearly very popular and no doubt excellent. There are NO smells/aromas drifting into the hotel or rooms, I know, not everyone likes Indian food. You can book in confidence because we were on the first floor. That brings us into the slight negatives, which don't impact the star rating, but may not be suitable for other guests. If you are gravitationally challenged, have low mobility due to physical disability, this hotel is NOT for you. There is no lift and there is only one disabled space, which is not patrolled. It's probably not patrolled because the hotel is unsuitable anyway. BEFORE the idiots start abusing the hotel, it's an old building, built long before the obesity epidemic. It's easier to lose weight than to put a lift in, in this building, so just book elsewhere. For everyone else, this is a superb hotel, offering great value for money. It's situated in Jesmond, one of the upmarket areas of Newcastle, offering some nice walks looking in some very nice shops about 200m away. There are multiple, good restaurants, like the Rio Brazilian Steakhouse just 5 mins walk away. You could have bigger rooms, be closer to the City Centre and have parking. However, if these aren't a massive issue (coming by train or plane) this is a superb place to base yourself. Thank you Dr. Shaheen and Susan and all the staff at Best Western New Kent Hotel for an excellent stay. We will be back in the Spring!

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