The Montpellier Chapter Hotel in Cheltenham shows that you can have style and good accessibility even in a grade II listed building.
The four star hotel takes the positive points of the early Victorian villa in which it is found and mixes it with the funky design and the modern notion of disabled access. So you end up with the best of both worlds. It’s still a moderately new arrival on the hotel scene but one that has been hailed by The Daily Telegraph as reinventing the town and has been included in many ‘best of’ lists.
As mentioned already, the hotel has good access. There are three accessible rooms with wet rooms all the grab rails and lifts – two are found interconnected on the ground floor, with a further one on the first floor.
At the side of the building they have a ramp which allows for easy access to the hotel and restaurant. There is also access to a ground floor fully fitted disabled access toilet. Access to the Spa is limited from the inside of the building but can be achieved through the lower car park entrance with prior arrangement.
The Montpellier Chapter Hotel is very stylish and accessible. It also shows that being grade II listed should not be the final word on accessibility, as it so often is made out to be – we’ve lost count of the number of venues who say they can’t adapt to become more accessible because the building is listed. Our belief is that, with a little innovation, all buildings can and should be accessible.
The Montpellier Chapter Hotel shows this as well as have style to spare so it gets a provisional 2.5 BBS Ticks and could rise to 3 when we visit.
