No 131

Style

Mod-Georgian pad

Setting

Boutique boulevard

Skirting the edge of Cheltenham’s Imperial Gardens, No 131 is the pride of The Promenade. Formed of several listed townhouses, this spirited stay splices Georgian heritage, mod-British design and contemporary art to spectacular effect. Most rooms are classically British, dressed with wooden panelling, tweed headboards and cosy woollen bedspreads. In the top two tiers, the designers doubled down on the decadence with Chinoiserie-style paintings, rakish sofas and throws the colour of gemstones. What underpins it all is a sense of informal elegance, which can be felt in the lively Asian-fusion restaurant and Gin & Juice bar, stocked with 400 varieties of its namesake spirit. On the subject of revelry, No 131 knows how to throw a party: from Thursday to Saturday, the cocktails flow freely and DJs keep the bar below buzzing until the early hours.

Facilities

Rooms

36.

Checkout

11am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.

More Details

Rates exclude a Continental buffet breakfast of bread, pastries, home-made jams, cold meats, cheeses and fresh juices and made-to-order à la carte hot dishes including eggs-many-way on sourdough toast and fluffy pancakes.

Free Internet Access

On-Site Restaurant

Room Service

At the Hotel

Lounge, covered terrace, bookable private dining room, free WiFi. In rooms: flatscreen TV, minibar, hot-water bottle, art books, Nespresso coffee machine, tea-making kit, free bottled water and Bramley bath products.

Our Favourite Rooms

All 36 rooms have mod-British looks, a king or emperor-size bed and a large rainfall shower, so there’s no skimping on the essentials. The Excellent and Outstanding Rooms are the most indulgent, featuring higher ceilings, tall casement windows and period features like cast-iron fireplaces or parquet floors. Rooms in the King’s House – the most recent addition to the hotel – have a darker palette that skews a little more modern. If you’ve no intention of joining the party in Gin & Juice, request a room here as they’re furthest away from the bar.

Packing Tips

Swarovski binoculars to track your gee-gees.

Also

A day at Cheltenham’s racecourse can be nerve-racking – unwind with a muscle-soothing treatment at nearby Cowley Manor's spa.

Children

Welcome. Extra beds (£25 a night for under-16s) and free cots can be added to most rooms.

Gallery

Food & Drink

Top Table

Settle into a spot on the terrace.

Dress Code

Leave your hoodies, caps and flip-flops at home; opt instead for jeans and luxe knits by day, a bit of sparkle by night.

Hotel Restaurant

Food is served throughout the hotel, where guests linger over seasonal British fare in handsomely proportioned Georgian rooms brought up to date with flashes of neon and a splash of art deco. For breakfast, take your pick from the Continental spread and order decadent plates of eggs Florentine, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on sourdough toast, granola and avo on toast. Come evening, tall stools slink around the imposing central bar of the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, Yoku. It’s worth letting staff know that you’ll be dining at the hotel: tables are popular, with an Asian-inspired menu featuring an edit of sushi, wagyu skewers, crispy king prawn spring rolls and miso-marinated black cod.

Hotel Bar

Head to Yoku or Bar Tokyo for an apéritif, where asian cocktails like Sakura sours and banana & pineapple rum runners are served under the restaurant's opulent chandeliers. The downstairs Gin & Juice bar, a great post-dinner option, is a buzzy and attractive affair sprawling across several rooms, each with a different feel. The long zinc bar is at the heart of the action; resident mixologists have already established it as the best cocktail bar in town with their carefully crafted menu of sours, swizzles and highballs. Order the house cocktail, a delightfully blue coupe of gin and blue raspberry syrup topped with a lemony froth – the bar is heated in the winter, and in good weather the roof opens up for a garden-party feel. Thursday–Saturday things shift into weekend mode with late opening and some top-drawer DJs (Norman Jay, DJ Yoda and Gilles Peterson have all graced the decks).

Last Orders

Breakfast is served 7.30am–11am, lunch noon to 3pm, dinner at Yoku 6pm–9pm (10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, closed on Sundays and Mondays).

Room Service

A full menu is available online during restaurant hours.

Planes

Bristol Airport, an hour’s drive away, serves domestic and European flights, with onwards connections from Brussels, Amsterdam or Paris. London Heathrow is just over 90 minutes away.

Trains

Cheltenham Spa station, a five-minute drive from hotel, serves Cross Country and First Great Western trains to Swindon, Bristol and London Paddington, as well as Cardiff, Birmingham and Aberdeen.

Automobiles

You won’t need a car for a saunter through Cheltenham’s Georgian quarters, but if you plan on exploring further afield there’s metred on-street parking (£10 a day) in the surrounding area. From London, the drive to Cheltenham's under two and a half hours, and No 131 is just 10 minutes from junction 11 of the M5. Be sure to park in the street behind the hotel before you pick up a parking permit.

Worth Getting Out of Bed For

No 131’s city-centre location is hard to beat. The Promenade is lined with the high street’s pick (Whistles, Hobbs, the White Company); for a leisurely browse of Cheltenham’s best boutiques, jewellers and gift shops, walk up the gentle hill to the Montpellier quarter. Across the road, the Imperial Gardens hosts events throughout the town’s festivals – time your visit to coincide with October’s Literature Festival or June’s food-and-drink-fuelled revelry. No 131 is a renowned party pad from Thursdays onwards, so keep an eye on their events programme and you might just catch a star DJ spinning down in the Gin & Juice bar. If you want to explore further afield, the hotel can arrange riding trips, fishing on the River Coln or clay-pigeon shooting lessons with Olympic trainer Ian Coley, as well as bike hire and picnic hampers for a gentler amble through the Cotswolds.

Earn or Redeem Points with World of Hyatt

This Mr & Mrs Smith hotel participates in the World of Hyatt loyalty program. As a member, you can earn and redeem points and enjoy exclusive benefits for qualifying nights. .