Hotel du Vin & Bistro Brighton: ‘A seaside city oasis of calm yet colourful refinement’
This 49-room luxury boutique hotel offers breezy style and elegance in bucketloads right in the heart of the city.
By Will Stroude
Brighton has never needed much of an introduction where LGBTQ people are concerned, but the pandemic-induced British beach resort renaissance has only turbo-charged evolving perception of the Sussex city from quaint and quirky anachronism to chic seaside city – without any of its occasionally shabby charm being lost in the process.
Hotel du Vin & Bistro Brighton exemplifies the city’s current standing perhaps more than anywhere, wrapping easy style and sophistication in a friendly and characterful bow. Nestled just yards from the seafront among the colourful, labyrinthine streets and alleyways of The Lanes, this luxury boutique hotel and restaurant is right in the throng of Brighton’s main attractions yet remains an oasis of calm away from the crowds.
Behind the handsome mint green mock-Tutor and Gothic revival exterior lie 49 rooms that have all received a relatively recent refurb. While each is unique, all draw from the same eye-pleasing palette of breezy pastels, brown leathers and metallic flourishes. With extravagant roll-top baths and cavernous monsoon showers, the result is rooms that convey the thoughtful privacy of a luxury seaside cottage with all the essential comforts of a high-end hotel experience.
Our room was one of several with exterior doors leading out to the deck wrapped around one of the Hotel du Vin & Bistro Brighton’s trump cards: a vibrant courtyard complete with vine-clad pergoda and reams of twinkling lightbulbs that serves as a convivial or romantic treat in which to while away a summer’s evening in. Don’t allow any fears over noise to linger, either: a reassurance that the area would be cleared at 10:30pm each night was followed through accordingly once the sun had set over the adjacent beachfront.
Plush Egyptian cotton bedding offered the perfect respite after a day of exploring The Lanes, nearby city centre, hipster gay-bourhood of Kemptown and, of course, the famous Brighton Pier. With many of Brighton’s LGBTQ bars concentrated just minutes’ walk away near Old Steine Gardens, Hotel du Vin & Bistro Brighton is also ideally located for those looking to make the most of the city’s queer nightlife or mammoth Pride celebrations each August.
Whether your visit is designed to be restful or more raucous, the hotel’s attached restaurant will keep you in fine fettle for the duration, catering from breakfast through to dinner. Popular with locals and hotel-goers alike, the restaurant serves French bistro-style cooking as tastefully done as the space itself; all stained wood and teal furnishings.
The service was enthusiastic and knowledgeable but not overbearing as chicken liver parfait and juicy tiger prawns were followed by succulent sirloin steak and pomme lyonnaise. The extensive and well-stocked wine cellar lifted things even further and is itself well worth the price of a return trip – perhaps no surprise given the hotel stands on the site of a 17th century wine merchant’s. Whether it was champagne cocktails to begin the night or a hearty lunchtime Bloody Mary the following day, the bistro and attached mezzanine bar offered choice and comfort beyond the typical hotel fare.
Dog-friendly and with grand loft suites offering sea views and honeymoon-style twin baths, the Hotel du Vin offering is one that can be as comfortably casual or as classily sophisticated as you like. Much like the city it resides, personality is encouraged…
Hotel du Vin & Bistro Brighton, 2 Ship Street, Brighton BN1 1AD