Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Basildon

  • Basildon – Campanile Hotel

    Basildon – Campanile Hotel

    This stay was a few weeks ago, before everything was shut back down.

    One thing I’ve noted is that motels don’t tend to do very well in the UK, there’s something that the British don’t seem to like about having open and external corridors. There was a little bit of a building frenzy of them in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, but that ebbed away. They work well in the United States and they seem more common across mainland Europe, with Campanile being a French chain (and they seem to have lots of locations in Poland amongst others). Anyway, I stayed here as it was the cheapest option, I can eschew luxury.

    The room was actually clean and comfortable, although dated. The welcome at reception was one of the best I’ve had in a hotel, a very enthusiastic staff member explaining everything he could. So, there was nothing really wrong with the room’s cleanliness or the staffing.

    The plug sockets are hidden away, I can’t recall a sign in a hotel room helping customers to find them. This could, and probably should, be remedied even with the use of extension leads. They can be nailed in (not through the wire, even my limited electrical knowledge knows that) if customers keep pinching them.

    Hmmm, this lamp should have just been thrown away. This is doing nothing for the room.

    I was moderately puzzled at this. It is in keeping with what is being offered, a room with en-suite bathroom. But, I’m not entirely sure that it’s the best image to offer as the first thing a customer sees.

    The hotel has sunk to the bottom of the reviews and has collapsed its prices as well, which is usually a freefall for a location that it can’t recover from. The difficulty is that groups on a night out often book the cheapest option as they’re just looking for somewhere to stay. And, unfortunately, sometimes these groups cause issues for the hotel and their guests.

    And…. The hotel dealt with this little crisis well, it was a birthday party coming back which got out of hand very quickly in terms of noise. The police were called immediately (I assume by the hotel, although a guest might have reported them I suppose) and came in about six vans. The group were not the politest to the police, but the law won out here quite quickly. Anyway, this is just what the hotel didn’t need at 01:00 (although I quite like drama like this, as I was awake anyway), and this sort of problem is riven through its reviews. Along with the rooms which need refurbishment.

    But, the staff here seem determined to turn things around, with the recent reviews for their food being positive and customer service was way above average. Other than policegate, the location was quiet and everything was clean, so I’d stay again if I went back to Basildon. Although, I’m not sure why I’d need to go back to Basildon, but the town’s main attraction is just around the corner from this hotel.

  • c2c : Basildon to Upminster

    c2c : Basildon to Upminster

    How beautiful Basildon’s railway station looks from the exterior…. It’s a relatively new railway station, opened in 1974 on an existing railway line to deal with the increasing number of people living in the new town of Basildon.

    I’ve seen more beautiful railway stations. I couldn’t buy this ticket on-line using GWR, who I usually purchase from (I get Nectar points), it said that the journey wasn’t valid. There must have been some timetabling issues, but I was able to buy a ticket from the machines as Basildon. It’s quite an expensive ticket at over £6 for the short journey, but there’s no other public transport that I can see that made this journey.

    The train wasn’t particularly busy and nor was it very clean either, with a fair amount of litter around. I’m entirely reliant on Wikipedia to work out what kind of train this is, but it’s apparently a Bombardier Electrostar Class 357.

    And arriving into Upminster on time. The train was getting a little busier by this point, although there were plenty of seats still available. From here, the train goes into London and arrives at Fenchurch Street in the city centre.

    Upminster railway station isn’t really the most beautiful in the world either, with this section of the station being added in 1932. The railway station itself though dates from 1885 when it was built by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway.

  • Basildon – Premier Inn Basildon Festival Park

    Basildon – Premier Inn Basildon Festival Park

    This Premier Inn at Festival Park was keenly priced and isn’t too far away from the beating heart of Basildon town centre. I say beating heart because it’s nice to be polite.

    The welcome at the hotel was friendly and the room was clean and well-equipped. I liked that they had a large fan, although this is because there’s no air conditioning of note. Everything was well maintained in the room, although the fan in the bathroom sounded like an Airbus A380 taking off.

    The problem Premier Inn have, or as far as I’m concerned, is that they’ve skimped on the construction costs of their hotels. I’ve experienced before the problems they have with internal noise, and this hotel suffered badly from noise from all sides, let alone guests shouting. A lot of this problem is cheapness of the internal fit-out, a shame given that the room itself feels like it’s had some money spent on it.

    Internal noise in hotels annoys me far more than external noise, as I like the sound of roads and city outside the window. But creaking doors from other rooms and it sounding like people are rearranging furniture above can feel a bit intrusive. I’m probably one of the few people who is excited by a room next a busy road or railway station, so I’m not that demanding in this regard. In other regards, I’m a nightmare, but that’s a different matter.

    Anyway, all was OK with the stay overall, but buildings like this could perhaps do with being knocked down and rebuilt. I suspect that Premier Inn and Whitbread might not be sure of that sort of strategy though. But, for the first time I’d say in the best part of a decade, I do get the impression that Travelodge are moving back ahead of Premier Inn. That’s not borne out by customer reviews on-line, but the difference between the two is now very narrow and a few years ago, Travelodge was a country mile behind.

    I struggle not to think of Alan Partridge and his big plate, but that might just be because I live in Norwich….

  • Basildon – Holy Cross Church

    Basildon – Holy Cross Church

    There wasn’t much in Basildon when this map was published, around 100 years ago. Holy Cross Church was fairly alone in the landscape, along with a nearby moated house, both of which survive in the modern urban landscape.

    There has been a religious building at this site since at least the early thirteenth century, although the current church is newer. The chancel dates to the late sixteenth century, built with Tudor brick, whilst the main part of the nave is from the fourteenth century.

    There are apparently graves from the early part of the eighteenth century in the churchyard, although I managed to miss them.

    The exterior is slightly mismatched and some repairs were completed to the nave in 1702. The three-stage west tower was built in around 1500.

    The chancel, which was repaired in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

    The Devil’s Door.

    This was the parish church for Basildon when it was a much smaller affair of just a few households, although a second Church of England church was added during the post-war expansion of the town.

  • Basildon – Toby Carvery

    Basildon – Toby Carvery

    I’m not sure that I’ve ever been to a Toby Carvery before, so what better place to visit in Basildon? Actually, this is more related to I’m not sure what else there actually is to see in Basildon now I’ve seen the town’s sign. Perhaps its secrets will unfold to me during the day.

    There was a friendly greeting and I paid at the counter near to the entrance. I had booked a table and the staff member suggested that this was important, although I’m not entirely sure why as I wouldn’t say that it was packed. But, it seemed a welcoming location.

    The breakfast options, including tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, hash browns and fried eggs.

    As well as sausages, bacon, Yorkshire puddings and toast. I’m not sure who orders Yorkshire puddings and gravy in the morning, but there we go. Due to the current health situation, staff serve customers rather than it being self-service.

    And round one. I didn’t want much toast, that’s not the staff being stingy. The food was actually all OK, the bacon was a bit fatty but otherwise had a decent taste and was quite salty (this is a good thing in my view). The sausages were meaty, the tomatoes were tomatoey, the hash browns were a bit limp and the eggs were fine. Not exceptional, but still perfectly good.

    I wasn’t actually entirely sure if you were meant to go back up for more food, but I did anyway and no-one said anything. I think that’s the point of the carvery, although I didn’t notice anyone else going up for multiple plates. Anyway, they should have made it clear if you weren’t allowed to.

    I decided that it seemed wrong not to get Yorkshire puddings, gravy and sausages.

    The coffee was unlimited, although I had to go back to the bar area to get top-ups, but the environment was spacious and that wasn’t an inconvenience. The prices were all relatively low, the surroundings were clean and the staff were friendly, if not particularly pro-active at times. Anyway, I might come back to Toby Carvery in the future for a meal during the day to experience their full carvery options. All very lovely.

  • Basildon – Basildon Sign

    Basildon – Basildon Sign

    My friend Liam told me that one of the highlights of Basildon was the sign at the entrance to it and I think it’s fair to say it’s the most exciting thing that I’ve seen in the town so far. A little fiddly to walk to, it was placed on the Noak Bridge turn-off in 2010, a reminder of just how exotic the town is. Or something like that.

    Denise van Outen, who is from Basildon, said at the time, “sure, the weather in Los Angeles is better, but you can’t beat the people in Basildon.” I’m not sure that the sign quite took me back to Los Angeles and looking at the Hollywood sign, but I tried to picture being back in California nonetheless. It wasn’t the cheapest to install and it has received some mockery locally (and from everywhere to be fair), but I quite like it.