Roker Hotel unveils new look rooms as part of £1million site investment

Feature walls with retro murals dedicated to the twin resorts of Roker and Seaburn are among the new features at the Roker Hotel as it transitions from a three star to a four star venue.

Work to upgrade the accommodation of the hotel, which began November last year, is now complete and forms part of a million pound investment in the site.

Changes included the redecoration of all hotel bedroom and bathrooms with new soft furnishings in all rooms and new solid wood furniture for its superior rooms.

It’s the latest investment by owners Tavistock Hospitality, a North East firm which owns more than a dozen bars, hotels and restaurants across the region, as well as a brewery and distillery.

The work forms part of the company’s wider refurbishment of the hotel which began in 2014 and has been gradually taking place over the last three years. The renovation has seen the hotel become home to Let There Be Crumbs tearoom and gelateria; Italian Farmhouse ristorante and pizzeria and Poetic License distillery bar.

The company is hopeful that these recent efforts will see the hotel’s classification increase from the three star bracket to a higher end four star rating.

Managing director Mark Hird said: “We have been busy refurbishing the public areas within the hotel over the past few years and we believed now was the time to move onto the bedrooms.

“With more hotels now open in the area, we felt it was important to redefine our offering. We are an independent, family-owned business and we wanted this to really shine. We aren’t a big, corporate chain and we’re proud of that.”

Speaking about the local features that have been incorporated in the design, Mark said: “We’ve added small gestures throughout that we think guests will really appreciate – like enlarged retro tourism posters as feature walls and our guest directory, which is done in the style of an old newspaper.

“We also nod to our on-site gin distillery – all of the superior rooms are named after a botanical we use in the gin. It’s these kind of little touches that we hope will set us apart and make Roker Hotel the first choice for a jolly good stay.”

Future plans include the opening of a treatment spa on-site, for which work is due to begin in late 2017.

Mark added: “There is nothing like this in the city and we’re hopeful it could help turn the hotel and the Sunderland seaside back into a real destination.”