This was not my first visit to the Watergate Bay Hotel. Last time, my expectations had been pretty low - well what would you expect from a midwinter visit to a Victorian seaside hotel catering for families?
I was pleasantly surprised though - decor wasn't up to much, but breakfast was OK, staff lovely, and there was a fire in the lobby by which to drink hot chocolate after a bracing walk along the bay - surely one of Britain's most beautiful. This time, I was more excited - the hotel had a cool new website and brochure promising coastal style.
What's more, I was going for the opening of Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall - his latest restaurant in which disadvantaged local youngsters receive top-flight training in the kitchen.
Fifteen Cornwall is two minutes from the hotel so the potential for the Watergate Bay to benefit from this new honeypot - particularly in low season - is beyond measure.
This time, my expectations were high. What a disappointment, then, that the hotel's refurbishment was unfinished. Surely with a media magnet the size of Jamie Oliver moving in next door (so to speak), this should have been a priority? My (unrefurbed) room was grotty.
The finished new rooms (in a rear wing) were quite nice, in a predictable modern way, but the grand large rooms at the front (where the urbanites with £150-plus to spend on dinner at chez Fifteen will want to stay) were still awaiting a revamp and the proposed new look for these a clumsy attempt at (yawn) urban chic. Nothing reflected the amazing seascape outside or the Victorian architecture.
The public areas - which had been upgraded - looked cheap and the fabulous fireplace in the lobby sacrilegiously boarded over. The reception staff, particularly oneenthusiastic young chap, coped admirably with all the media hoop-la, but in the restaurant and bar I encountered unwilling service and even rudeness.
Oliver's Fifteen concept is all about inspiration, motivation and opportunity. So as the restaurant takesoff, let's hope standards at the Watergate Bay Hotel are lifted with it.
● 01637 860543, watergatebay.co.uk, doubles from £89 a night. Air Southwest (0870 2418202, airsouthwest.com) flies to Newquay from Gatwick, Manchester, Leeds Bradford, Bristol and Cardiff from £19-£33 one-way. Newquay is the nearest train station (National Rail Enquiries 08457 484950, nationalrail.co.uk).
· Weekend is written by Sally Shalam
