• An excellent boutique hotel in stylish Bridge of Allan
• Outstanding food in the restaurant
• Great lounge and bar in which to unwind
• Superb service from a young and enthusiastic team
• Distinctively themed guest rooms

Intro

Adamo Bridge of Allan stands on the south side of Bridge of Allan's bustling main street. Stylish and contemporary, the public and guest rooms all have a pleasing boutique style which remains accessible and sensible. Function holds sway over form and the end result is a comfortable hotel which invites you to relax and unwind. The level of service on offer from a young and enthusiastic team is superb. The bar and lounge are welcoming and well stocked, and the food on offer in the nicely themed restaurant is outstanding, as is the wine list. A range of options are available when it comes to guest rooms, which all reflect the distinctive styling of the hotel.

Character and setting/location

Adamo Bridge of Allan will be better known to visitors to Bridge of Allan under its old identity as the Queen's Hotel. It stands on the south side of Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan's main street at this point, a short distance east of the bridge over the Allan Water. Parking is available behind the hotel.

The Queen's Hotel opened its doors as a purpose built hotel in 1839. Its elegant frontage and exterior remain, but internally it has been transformed beyond recognition. The shell of a traditional town centre hotel now contains a carefully crafted boutique-styled hotel that has retained some of the detail of the original interiors, but given them a unique, attractive twist. The end result is comfortable, accessible and highly attractive.

Public rooms/spaces

The canopied main entrance leads into a broad corridor which runs through the hotel to the stairs at the rear, and beyond them to the lift which serves all floors of the hotel except the penthouse. The corridor is home to the reception desk, and the dark décor is beautifully offset by a huge painting of a lady in green, a water spirit accompanied by two wolves.

On the right hand side of the main corridor as you enter, two doors lead to the front and rear parts of the Long Bar, an excellent bar whose design uses natural local materials and whose décor includes a reference to Pictish standing stones. The bar is well stocked and the service is excellent. Beyond the bar is the lounge area, slightly quieter and more reflective than the bar itself.

Turning left from the main corridor leads you into the restaurant. This is very effectively (but flexibly) divided into two parts by light curtains. The front part of the restaurant carries areas of light wood panelling and of copper cladding, while the rear has more of the feel of the traditional hotel this once was. The rear of the restaurant opens out onto the attractive terrace, ideally placed to catch the sun through much of the day and into the evening in Summer.

Last but not least is Eva, a late night venue on the lower ground floor of the hotel open until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights and on other occasions for televised live sporting events.

Guest bedrooms

Adamo Bridge of Allan has 15 en suite guest bedrooms, one of which is specially adapted for use by disabled guests. Six of the rooms are on each of the first and second floors, and three more are in the penthouse. The guest rooms all benefit from the boutique styling found throughout the hotel, but many also have their own individual personalities. The hotel's website carries 360 degree virtual tours of all of the rooms, and we recommend you take a look in advance of making a booking.

There are several different categories of room. There are ten double or twin rooms, five on each of the two main floors. There is also two suites, one on each of the two main floors. These offer a bedroom with a shower room, a second bath/shower room and a lounge separated from the bedroom by a sliding partition. On the third floor of the hotel is the penthouse. This is a good example of the way the hotel is designed to offer highly flexible spaces. It can be let as a self contained unit offering two double bedrooms and a large lounge/kitchen with windows at the front and rear (and distant views of Stirling Castle). Or it can be let as three separate en suite doubles, albeit one on a very large scale and with an integral kitchen.

There are, additionally, two townhouses on offer at the rear of the hotel. Each is split over three floors and offers two double bedrooms, an open plan kitchen/dining/lounge area and a bathroom. These are available either as self catering accommodation, as an annex to the hotel and its facilities, or a combination of the two.

Guest services

All the hotel's double or twin rooms have, as standard, king size double or two twin beds, telephones, flat screen TVs with Sky channels, a computer LAN connection and Wi-Fi, a hairdryer, a mini-bar, tea and coffee making facilities and fluffy bathrobes. The suites additionally have a plasma TV and a DVD/CD player, though they have slightly smaller double beds. All bathrooms are equipped with Arran Aromatics toiletries, body jet power showers and spa baths. The penthouse offers a hydrotherapy bath and a drench shower in its black glass main bathroom.

Irons an ironing boards can be obtained from reception, as can cooling fans. Hairdressing and beauty treatments can be arranged for guests, and a babysitting service can also be organised via reception. A full professional laundry, dry cleaning, ironing and repair service is also available. Room service makes all the hotel's menus available in your room during normal service hours and a restricted menu outwith these times.

Disabled access is good, a reflection of the extensive rearrangement of the old hotel. There is a disabled car parking space in the rear car park, from which the lift is easily accessible. This serves every floor on the hotel except the penthouse. The restaurant, bar and lounge are accessible, and there are disabled facilities on the ground floor. One guest room, on the first floor, is fully accessible.

Restaurant and dining experience

Anyone wanting to eat at Adamo Bridge of Allan has a number of choices, with three distinct menus on offer depending on when and where you want to eat. What is common to all three menus is the hotel's desire to use the freshest and highest quality ingredients, and to reflect the changing seasons. The menus therefore change at least every six weeks, so what follows can only be taken as an indication of the food on offer when we visited.

The express menu is served in the restaurant from 12-6 every day and provides very modestly priced bistro-style food in a choice of two or three courses at fixed prices. Meanwhile, the bar menu offers an a la carte choice. It is usually available in the bar and lounge from 12-9.30 from Sunday to Thursday and from 12-10 on Friday and Saturday.

What really sets Adamo Bridge of Allan apart, however, are the dinners served in the restaurant from 6-9.30 Tuesday to Thursday, and 6-10 on Friday and Saturday. The quality of the food is outstanding, and it is supported by an exceptionally good wine list.

The three courses on offer for dinner included, when we visited, starters of superb hand dived scallop or excellent smoked haddock risotto, preceded by a very tasty appetiser of ham hock terrine. Mains included a divine roasted breast of Gressingham duck and one of the very best Buccleuch beef fillets we have ever tasted. A wide ranging choice of sweets was followed by coffee with exceptional petits-fours of pear centred marshmallows and passion fruit jellies.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served in the restaurant and comprises a (mostly) cold first course followed by a hot second course, a pattern that will be familiar to most Scottish hotel guests. Unusually, the first course is served at the table rather than by means of the more familiar buffet. The porridge with (or without) honey was especially good. Main course choices include everything from the full Scottish breakfast to smoked haddock with poached eggs, smoked Scottish salmon with scrambled egg to an unusually wide selection of six different omelettes. The breakfasts are as carefully prepared and beautifully presented as the dinners and the result is an exceptionally good plate of food.

Meetings and events facilities

Adamo Bridge of Allan offers a range of spaces perfectly suited to the smaller meeting, event or function, at an ideal location within easy reach of most of Scotland's central belt. There are five function rooms ranging in size from a suite able to accommodate 10 in boardroom layout or for a private dinner, up to the lounge, able to accommodate 40 for a function and the restaurant, able to accommodate 40 in theatre style or 70 for a dinner or function. As a result the hotel is popular for small business meetings and conferences, and for private dinners, family gatherings and wedding receptions.

Leisure

Unless you count the excellent bar and restaurant, and given their ability to induce relaxation, you probably should, there are no dedicated leisure facilities on offer at Adamo Bridge of Allan. However, it is within easy reach of everything that Stirling has to offer, including Stirling Castle, the Bannockburn Visitor Centre and the Wallace Monument, while the Ochil Hills start immediately to the north of Bridge of Allan and offer many fine walks as they make their way east.

Service highs/lows

Several factors cause Adamo Bridge of Allan to stand out from the crowd. The first is the hotel itself, which offers contemporary styling in a building that retains the character it has built up over 170 years. The second is the quality of the welcome and the service from an outstanding young team. And the third is the excellence of the food on offer.

Local points of interest

Adamo Bridge of Allan stands towards the western end of Bridge of Allan. A mile and a half to the north west is the roundabout at which the motorway south to Edinburgh and to Glasgow becomes the A9 to Perth. As a result the hotel is under an hour by road from Edinburgh Airport and (depending on traffic) Glasgow Airport. It is also within easy walking distance of Bridge of Allan railway station, on the route of a half hourly service between Glasgow and Dunblane. Bridge of Allan is under three miles north of the City of Stirling, which has a wide range of visitor attractions: it is also less than a mile from the University of Stirling. Find out more from the Undiscovered Scotland guide to the Stirling Area.

Target/ideal markets

The hotel appeals strongly to business customers needing high quality accommodation in central Scotland but wanting somewhere a little different, and a little removed from the cities, in which to stay. It is also increasingly becoming a leisure destination for people drawn by the superb food on offer. This includes local people and those wanting to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life for a relaxing breakaway. The hotel benefits from its proximity to the University of Stirling.

Adamo Bridge of Allan is also an ideal small event venue. Intimate weddings can be catered for, as can private dinners and small business functions. These are catered for without compromise over the normal day to day running of the hotel, but with special care given to deliver a day to remember.

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