Hotel Indigo Stratford-upon-Avon

About Hotel Indigo Stratford-upon-Avon

This is the old Falcon Hotel, a Grade II* listed half-timbered building on Chapel Street whose earliest parts date to around 1500, with an upper floor added in the 1640s. After a two-year restoration it reopened in 2019 under the Hotel Indigo name, and the work was done properly: the leaning windows, the black-and-white timbering and a great deal of the original oak survive, set against a contemporary interior in the newer sections behind.

There are 93 rooms across the historic frontage and a modern extension. Those in the old building have the beams, the uneven floors and the character; those at the back are larger, quieter and more conventionally comfortable. It is worth being deliberate about which you book, because the difference in feel is considerable. The position could hardly be more central, standing opposite the site of New Place where Shakespeare died and a two-minute walk from the Birthplace on Henley Street.

The Woodsman is the reason a fair number of people book at all. It cooks over live fire, with game, aged beef and vegetables from Warwickshire growers, and it has built a reputation well beyond the hotel's own guests. Alongside it sits the Falcon whisky and cocktail bar, a small, dark room that suits a drink after the theatre. Parking is limited and charged, as it is everywhere in the centre, so most guests either use the nearby multi-storey or arrive by train and walk the ten minutes from the station.