Brighton B&Bs: Guest and the City Bed and Breakfast in Kemp Town
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What prompts a man to go from being a school teacher in Hertfordshire to becoming the owner of a super-funky bed and breakfast in Brighton? An early mid-life crisis, perhaps? Or simply acting upon those wistful conversations we all have from time-to-time about moving to the seaside and working for ourselves?
Guest and the City, a pebble's throw from the pull-and-push of the English Channel in Brighton's Kemp Town, has been open in its current incarnation for just eight months.
Kitsch-en: The breakfast room at Guest and the City serves up buffet-style cooked breakfasts to guestsWhat's obvious from the moment you check in is that owners Dan and Mardi (who hung up hairdressing scissors to live the B&B dream) have the kind of tail-wagging enthusiasm for their new life that sees you through the difficult start-up months.Raising enough capital to buy this six-room townhouse B&B on Broad Street required a 'beg, steal or borrow' approach that, after months of tussling, eventually saw the couple handed the keys. What followed was an ongoing refurbishment that would see them have to pack up their decorating tools every time guests - almost all inherited outstanding bookings - arrived.With no experience in the hotel industry- 'except staying in them' - the couple have ploughed on, learning as they go. Hurtling towards their first year milestone, they tell us and the other assembled guests in the breakfast room, that it's 'been tough but worth it'.
So what can visitors expect? The concept behind Guest and t! he City is that Brighton, the South Coast's keeper of all things creative and quirky, doesn't stop at the front door of this B&B. It pours right in through the windows and the letterbox and manifests itself in colourful, kitsch touches that look like they've been picked up in the seaside city's famous The Lanes.
Sweeteners: Rooms come with tea-making facilities and less essential treats including popping candy. And Brighton Beach is just a couple of roads away...
Whether the decor is to your personal taste or not, it's impossible not to feel cheered by the multi-coloured stripes that adorn a wall in the breakfast room cum check-in desk area. It quickly becomes clear that Guest and the City has gone all out for the little touches. A bowl of peppermint creams - somehow more retro than plain old mints - sits in a hallway decorated with burlesque wallpaper, comedic, child-like breakfast crockery is designed by a local artist and, in the rooms, guests are greeted with Mr Men tissues, Love Hearts sweets and popping candy. Even Dotty the dog, stout of leg and covered in black and white spots, seems to blend in.
However, many a hotel has fallen foul of focusing too much on the novel and not enough on getting the basics right - eye-catching details matter little to guests if the bed's lumpy and the breakfast ropey.
Window worship: The previous owners installed stained-glass windows depicting Brighton scenes
The two loft rooms are sold together...but might one large room work better? So how did Guest and the City fare? There were three of us in our party and, booking late, we took the two double loft rooms at the top! of the B&B which share a kitchenette area and a wetroom/toilet. Weary legs beware, it's quite a climb to the top but once there it's your own area and feels private - the rooms can't be booked individually.
For a space advertised as one you would share with friends or family though, there were a couple of things that made it tricky to be sociable - namely heavy doors that swing shut at the drop of a hat. A pair of weighty doorstops would probably do the trick but without them any hope of a post-dinner chat was snuffed out when we got tired of trying to keep them ajar.
These rooms don't have the marvellous stained-glass windows - which depict scenes of Brighton and were installed by the previous owner - that the pricier 'feature rooms' have and were more compact in size but all this is reflected in the cost...from 160 in low season, so you could feasibly pay 40 each if four people stayed in them.My own inner aspiring hotelier couldn't help wondering whether one large room and a big bathroom wouldn't prove more lucrative in the long run in this space but it's perhaps too early to be bashing down walls.
In spite of their relative inexperience, Dan and Mardi know enough to not scrimp on the essentials it seems. The loft room beds, though again compact in size, are comfortable and come swathed in Egyptian Cotton linen. Add in an iPod dock, flat-screen television, fluffy towels and a lovely shower and this is far removed from your average seaside B&B.
A quirky hello: Peppermint creams and burlesque wallpaper greets guests checking inSo to the cooked breakfast, often a deal-breaker for the great British holidaymaker. Buffet in style - apart from the eggs which Dan cooks to order - hash browns, good toast, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and beans were all on offer. Thebacon and sausages come from local business The Brighton Sausage Company and the quality is clear - it was a fry! -up that somehow felt healthy. Tea, coffee, juices, including a delicious apple and rhubarb, flowed freely. The atmosphere in the room was relaxed too; guests chatted across tables about their weekends - no stilted silences here.Kemp Town is perfect for those who've been to Brighton before and want a more laid-back, local approach to the city. St James' Street has plenty of interesting bars and restaurants and, metaphorically if not geographically, is a far cry from popular West Street which seems to have been given over almost entirely to hen and stag parties in recent years.
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From now on, it's probably all about PR for Dan and Mardi in what is a competitive market...a forthcoming appearance on Channel 4's Four in a Bed (think Come Dine With Me but for B&Bs) should help with that.
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