Explore Birmingham’s elegant Hotel du Vin and discover what makes it a good choice for your next Birmingham city break.
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Hotel du Vin Birmingham sits midway between Birmingham’s bustling city centre and the fashionable Jewellery Quarter.
The hotel is housed in a beautifully restored Victorian eye hospital that dates back to 1884. Inside the building, contemporary design blends with old-fashioned elegance, hinting at an attractive mix of comfort and luxury.
I’ve been visiting Birmingham throughout my life, and I’ve stayed at many Birmingham hotels over the years.
Yet somehow I’d overlooked the Hotel du Vin on Church Street. I always intended to stay there at some point, but the hotel never made it to the top of my list.
Recently, I decided to treat myself to a night away in Birmingham, and it felt like the perfect opportunity to put this situation right. Read on to discover what I loved about this elegant hotel, and what didn’t quite hit the mark.
How to get to the Hotel du Vin, Birmingham
The Hotel du Vin is conveniently located in the centre of Birmingham. It’s just a short drive from Junction 6 of the M6 motorway, and there are several car parks within a few minutes’ walk.
If you’re arriving in Birmingham by train, the hotel is a 10-minute walk from Birmingham New Street Station. Snow Hill station is even closer, just 3 minutes away from the hotel.
Explore the city with our Ultimate Birmingham Travel Guide.
Take a look around the Hotel du Vin
I arrived at Hotel du Vin in the middle of a chilly January afternoon. The hotel’s entrance is directly off Church Street, but unfortunately, its beautiful red-brick front was covered by scaffolding on the day of my visit.
I’ll just have to go back and take photos another time!
You enter the hotel into an imposing stone-clad lobby with tall marble pillars and sweeping staircases.
My visit fell just after New Year’s Day, so the hotel was still decked out in its Christmas finery. The iron balustrades looked particularly festive, and there was an impressive display of champagne bottles in the lobby as well.
Two doors on either side of the main entrance lead you through to the Bubble Lounge and Bistro restaurant. More about those a little later!
A suite at the Hotel du Vin Birmingham
Hotel du Vin Birmingham has 66 bedrooms and suites, each with individual styling and luxurious features including roll-top baths. I’d originally booked a standard double room, but the hotel offered me an upgrade for a small additional fee.
Once I’d checked in, I took the industrial-style lift and followed a maze of corridors to my junior suite. Each of the rooms and suites has a name, rather than a number, and I would be spending the night in ‘Robert Mondavi’.
Unfortunately, my first impression was one of oppressive heat!
The radiators were turned on full, and as the windows don’t open, it was quite uncomfortable. I turned all the radiators off, whacked up the air-con and started to look around.
The bedroom
A super-king-sized bed with a leather headboard and footboard dominated the space. However, there was still plenty of room for two seats, a large wardrobe, a flat-screen TV on a large dresser and a desk in the corner.
The bed was incredibly comfortable, with high-thread-count linens and plenty of fluffy pillows. I can sometimes struggle to get comfy in an unfamiliar bed, but this was absolutely divine.
The room itself was quite spacious, with high ceilings that made it seem even larger.
It was decorated in rich tones of brown and grey, and wine-inspired photographs hung on the walls.
In the corner of the room, the desk held a Nespresso machine with a selection of pods, and a basket of luxury sweet and savoury snacks.
Inside the large wardrobe, I found two fluffy bathrobes with slippers. There was also a travel kettle with a selection of teas and a minibar with a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
Overall, I felt that the room was spacious and well-appointed, but not really as luxurious as I’d expect for a junior suite. While the teas and coffees were complimentary, all of the snacks and contents of the minibar were chargeable.
I was surprised to see that the hotel didn’t even supply complimentary bottles of water. Luckily, there’s a supermarket just two minutes around the corner, so I nipped out to pick up some supplies.
That also gave the room a chance to cool down to a more comfortable temperature.
The Bathroom
In my opinion, the bathroom is a good mark of quality in a hotel room. Unfortunately, I found the bathroom of my junior suite at Hotel du Vin Birmingham quite disappointing.
On the positive side, it featured a deep roll-top bath and a large walk-in shower with complimentary L’Occitane toiletries.
I indulged in a lovely, relaxing bath at the end of the evening, which was one of the aspects of my stay that I’d been looking forward to most of all.
However, the decor and general fittings all looked very tired. In particular, the wooden loo seat had a deep gouge in it, which looked shabby and made me wonder about its cleanliness.
Compared to the scorching heat of the suite when I arrived, the bathroom was positively cold. The only heating in that room was the heated towel rail, which didn’t have much effect on such a large space.
Unless I kept the bedroom at a sub-tropical temperature, I would have to accept a slightly chilly bathroom.
Overall, I had mixed feelings about my junior suite. I couldn’t help thinking that sticking with the standard room would have been the better deal.
The Bubbles Lounge
After relaxing in my suite for a while, I headed down to the Bubble Lounge for a pre-dinner drink.
The Bubble Lounge is an elegant space decorated in the style of Venice’s Café Florin, with pale green walls and elaborate panels.
The lounge has a cocktail menu featuring a good selection of classic and modern drinks.
There’s also an extensive selection of wines, including nearly 30 Champagnes.
I ordered a Champagne Cocktail at the bar, declining the complimentary snacks as I wanted to save my appetite for dinner, and took a seat at one of the tables.
My cocktail soon arrived, and it was a delicious way to start my evening.
Dinner at the Bistro, Hotel du Vin Birmingham
After I’d finished my drink, I moved through to the Bistro for dinner. The hotel’s restaurant is decorated in the same elegant pale green as the Bubble Lounge, and it felt welcoming on a chilly January evening.
Once I’d been seated by the friendly server, my attention turned to dinner. The Bistro prioritises wine, and it was certainly unusual to find the wine lists at the front of the menu. I ordered a glass of Malbec and perused the food section of the menu.
The Bistro offers a selection of French cuisine, including starters like Beef Tartare, Coquilles St-Jacques or Pâté de Campagne with cornichons and toasted sourdough.
Options for your main course include a 21-day-aged fillet of beef with Provençal tomato and watercress, corn-fed chicken with wild mushrooms and chicken velouté or a papillote of sea bass with fennel, carrot, leek and ginger.
Side dishes are not included in the menu, so you can choose your preferred dishes from options like buttered Ratte potatoes, crispy fries and ratatouille Provençale.
You can also choose from the £19.95 Special du Jour, which includes a daily special main course with a glass of wine, beer or soft drink.
I decided to order from the prix fixe menu, an excellent value option available for lunch and early dinner bookings. There’s a small selection of starters, main courses and puddings, with two courses costing £24.95 and 3 courses costing £29.95.
I started with smoked salmon, which was served with bread and a quenelle of softened, herb-spiked butter. The salmon was rich and not too heavily smoked, a tasty way to start my meal.
For my main course, I opted for the cassoulet of confit duck, melt-in-the-mouth pork and an intensely-flavoured sausage cooked in a rich tomatoey sauce with soft white beans.
I also ordered a side dish of pommes puree. It was probably not the most authentic side dish for Provençal cassoulet, but who can resist a generous pile of buttery mash on a cold January evening?
A tempting end to the meal
It was tempting to work my way through the entire dish, but I knew I had to leave room for my highly anticipated pudding. This was the easiest choice all night, as I plumped for the creme brulee.
Unfortunately, I don’t think my photograph does it justice. This was a very generous dish of sumptuous, silky custard topped with the perfect carapace of sugar. The flavours were so intense and the serving so generous that I couldn’t finish the whole dish – it would have been perfect for sharing.
Feeling very full and sleepy, I headed back to the Bubbles Lounge for an after-dinner Old Fashioned before enjoying a soak in my rolltop tub and a very good night’s sleep in that huge bed!
Unfortunately, I had to head off early before breakfast in the morning. A more relaxed start to the day would have allowed me to choose from a small menu of cooked and continental options.
Things to do near the Hotel du Vin, Birmingham
The Hotel du Vin is located in the heart of Birmingham city centre, making it a great base for exploring the city.
This prime location puts you within a few minutes’ walk of the best things to do in Birmingham. You can go shopping at the Bullring, explore history at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and soak up culture at Symphony Hall.
Hotel du Vin Birmingham is also within easy reach of the boutiques and eateries of the Jewellery Quarter.
Hotel du Vin: My Verdict
The Hotel du Vin Birmingham is a luxurious hotel in the heart of Birmingham city centre. It makes an excellent base for short breaks in the city, allowing easy access to all of Birmingham’s major attractions.
I enjoyed my stay at the Hotel du Vin, but I can’t honestly say that it was perfect. The junior suite fell short of my expectations with a bathroom that was in need of some refurbishment.
I found the room excessively hot when I arrived, but the bathroom was on the chilly side. It wasn’t easy to strike a comfortable balance between the two.
Having said that, my dinner at the Bistro was delicious, and I’d highly recommend a visit for lunch or dinner. I’m currently considering a return visit to try their Sunday Roast.
I would certainly stay at Hotel du Vin Birmingham again, but I’m not sure I’d book a junior suite unless I found a very good deal.
The Details…
Hotel du Vin Birmingham
25 Church Street, Birmingham B3 2NR
www.hotelduvin.com/locations/birmingham
0121 794 3005