The Grosvenor Arms
Shaftesbury, Dorset
Good Hotel Guide Review
There has been an inn on this spot since the 1500s, a stone’s throw from Shaftesbury’s famous and historic Gold Hill. This may well be the inn’s most successful incarnation, with ‘top-notch’ staff, ‘stunning’ rooms and a ‘first-class’ restaurant. Recent inspectors found Room 5, on the first floor, ‘light and bright’, with ‘floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the square’, a ‘comfortable bed’ and traffic noise ‘not at all intrusive’. Bathrobes and full-size bottles of Bramley toiletries in the ‘smart’ bathroom were appreciated. Food, by executive chef Tom Blake, is an all-day affair, served in the ‘bustling’ bar, conservatory or restaurant, the last an ‘elegant’ room with ‘well-spaced tables and comfortable chairs’. The cauliflower soup with home-made crusty bread is ‘very good’; the ‘whole Cornish plaice with brown shrimps’, ‘first class’. Breakfast comprises a buffet with a ‘standard selection’ of fruit juices, cereals, croissants and pastries plus a good choice of cooked dishes: ‘smoked salmon from Severn and Wye with avocado and poached eggs’, perhaps, or the scrambled eggs served on ‘super sourdough bread’. ‘Recommended without hesitation.’ (RB, and others)
Hotel details
Address
The Commons
Shaftesbury
Dorset
SP7 8JA
England
Telephone
01747 850580
Bedrooms
16, 2 first-floor rooms accessible by lift with no further steps.
Open
all year.
Facilities
lift, bar, lounge, restaurant, conservatory, private dining room, ballroom, free Wi-Fi, in-room Smart TV (Freeview), courtyard garden, bar and restaurant wheelchair accessible, adapted toilet.
Background music
in the bar.
Children
all ages welcomed.
Dogs
allowed in bedrooms (£10 per dog), bar, conservatory, not in restaurant.
Credit cards
Amex, MC, Visa.
Prices
per room B&B £95–£220, D,B&B £130–£255. À la carte £37.
Last updated:
November 10, 2019