Oddfellows Chester

About Oddfellows Chester

Oddfellows occupies a listed Georgian townhouse at 20 Lower Bridge Street, a couple of minutes' walk from the central cross and the Bridgegate stretch of the walls. The building was a private mansion before becoming the meeting hall of the Oddfellows friendly society, and its conversion to a hotel kept the grand proportions while filling them with a deliberately theatrical, slightly surreal decorative scheme that has become the property's signature.

There are eighteen bedrooms, each individually designed, and they vary considerably. Some are compact and quirky, others are large enough to include free-standing baths and four-posters; the townhouse rooms at the front have the best proportions and the most light. Anyone who prefers restrained hotel decoration should look elsewhere, but for guests who enjoy a hotel with a strong personality it is the most distinctive place to stay inside the walls.

Public rooms carry the same character. Alice's Parlour serves an elaborate afternoon tea, the Lounge Bar mixes cocktails well into the evening, and the food offer runs from a parlour menu through to a substantial Sunday roast. Behind the house is the Secret Garden, a walled outdoor space with covered seating that is one of the better places in Chester to sit out on a summer evening, and which doubles as a wedding and events space.

The position is excellent for a short break: the cathedral, the Rows, the amphitheatre and the Groves are all within about five minutes on foot, and the racecourse is a ten-minute walk. There is no hotel car park, so arrive by train or use one of the city centre multi-storeys. Lower Bridge Street can be lively at weekends, and rooms at the front will hear it.