Bull Hotel

The purpose of our visit was to host a business presentation. Before that, we had a high tea which started to arrive slowly but it was worth waiting for. An ambundance of sandwiches and other bites was well presented on the trays. At another occasion, we had a choice from the menu that I found a bit reduced considering it being a hotel — but the basics were well-​spread from a dressed hamburger to a tasty curry (it could be real Indian) and of course pastas and salads. But if you’re spending a holiday you will esperience the need to have your dinners somewhere else and that may involve a drive to the next town (at least).
The presentation room was available and neat, easy to access and to prepare so we could start in time.
After the meeting, we gathered for drinks, in a good atmosphere but when people from the group left the seats were quickly rearranged giving to other members of the company the impression they needed to leave as well.
Conclusion — a well presented, efficient accommodation for whatever you like to do. It could use a bit of personality and eagerness to make the clients stay longer (which creates more consumptions!).

Some of my colleagues didn’t like this hotel when they stayed. I actually enjoyed it. Well, I liked the room, the free wi-​fi, the trouser press mounted on the wall and the restaurant. That was the majority of my experience and so I’d stay again. I wasn’t warned on checking in that if I took the nearest elevator from the lobby that I’d still have to haul my suitcase up a couple of short series of stairs — no bueno. That architect must’ve been on drugs, seriously. I wouldn’t recommend trying to find your room drunk.
Ah, and the one slightly scary thing about the room — I actually locked myself IN the room. Yup, IN. Those pesky tiny press locks that set in a bike-​type cable lock ended up sticking. So when I was trying to leave to check out and get my taxi to the airport, I could not fully open the effing door. I was about to freak out but then I took one of their remotes and hammered that sucker open. Whew.
So, be sober with the skills of MacGyver and not afraid of a little exercise, and you’ll enjoy the hotel just fine. Seriously.

Ah The Bull.
Probably the most confusing layout of a hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Granted, England is a very old country and so the hotels are not the modern monoliths I am accustomed to. My co workers and I were booked here as it is one of the nicer accommodations near Pinewood Studios. This hotel struck me as a very business oriented hotel, not a place where one would go for a holiday (holiday is vacation in American English). The hotel features several large ballrooms used for conferences and they also have a beautiful garden in which they host weddings. The hotel is shaped like a square ‘U’ with the main areas being the bottom of the U and the rooms being the two uprights. To get to our rooms we had to walk through the Jack Shrimpton bar and snake our way past several doors and through 4 different corridors. The car park surrounds the hotel and there are more convenient entrances from those areas but our driver always dropped us of at the front of the hotel.
The room I was in was big enough for two. The bathroom featured a very high bath with a fixed shower head, the standard heated towel rack. The bed was plenty firm and the little safe was just large enough for my American money and knick knacks I didn’t want to lug around in my purse. Something that struck me right away was the lack of a clock. None to be had in the room. Time would be shown on the TV screen if you pushed the button but then it would disappear after 45 seconds or so. So bring an alarm clock, use your phone or schedule a wake up call if you need one. The mini bar/​mini fridge in my room had also been taken out. Strange and kind of a deal breaker for me. I like keeping my own water and snacks in my own fridge, I eat a lot, what can I say. The blackout curtains worked really well for me. The bay windows made for an odd shape but the curtains were hardy enough that you could tuck them into one another to prevent the sun from leaking in at 5 in the morning (Oh English summers).
It was funny how the two different bars at the hotel served different drinks. The Jack Shrimpton featured more ales on tap but had set hours. The other unnamed bar was pretty much 24 hours but had a limited selection of beers. So if you wanted a different beer you’d have to walk a bit back to the JS bar. Not a big deal. Because there weren’t a lot of eateries within walking distance most of our stay there we ate at the bar or the Beeches Restaurant. The bar food was actually pretty good and the triple cooked chips (fries) were very nice. Alas, it is bar food so it was a lot of grease that my body was not that OK with.
Overall the hotel is very nice but due to the old construction the hotel itself is very loud. I could hear everyone walking outside and all of the heavy doors slamming as businessmen left early in the morning. It was a little unnerving and since I was only there for a week, I never really got used to it. On one of the last nights we were there the Bull was hosting a wedding reception. They left a note in the room saying to expect some noise and that the complimentary breakfast bar in morning would be busy at certain times, which they indicated with a red, yellow and green time frames. The party wasn’t too crazy, I could hear the music until 1:30 AM but it was a Friday, so not a huge deal.
I wouldn’t go calling this a 5 star hotel and I really just took a star off a four for the noise of the door and people walking around. If you’re a fitness nut, the area surrounding offers some beautiful countryside to jog in and is relatively safe, even in the early morning. Overall, not a bad place to stay in Gerards Cross.