Sunderland’s Roker Hotel has completed the latest stage in a £1m refurbishment, entailing the redesign of its 43 en-suite rooms.
Combining contemporary styling with nautical features, ‘sea-blasted,’ free-standing, solid wood furniture is used throughout and feature walls, decorated in the style of 1950s tourism posters for Roker and neighbouring Seaburn, hark back to the heyday of the family seaside holiday.
The ‘retro’ styling has also been extended to the guest directories in each room, which are designed to resemble 1950s newspapers and contain useful information such as breakfast and check out times and where to go and what to see in the area.
Each room contains a glass jar of the botanical from which it takes its name, while other features, such as stacked luggage chests, rope curtain tiebacks and doorknobs and a navy and neutral colour scheme, reflect the hotel’s beachfront position.
Guests staying in the 12 superior rooms can not only enjoy an uninterrupted sea view, but also a telescope enabling them to look miles out to sea.
The unveiling marks the end of a three-year development programme at the hotel, owned by North East leisure group Tavistock Hospitality, which owns more than a dozen bars, hotels and restaurants across the region.
“With more hotels now open in the area we felt it was important to redefine our offering,” says Tavistock Hospitality MD, Mark Hird. “We are an independent, family-owned business and we wanted this to really shine. We aren’t a big corporate chain and we are proud of that.
“This area offers a wealth of cultural attractions, not to mention fantastic coastal walks and cycling routes and exceptional beaches – and we are right at the centre of that.”
