GreyFriars

GreyFriars

A restored historic hotel in Colchester's cultural quarter, with dinner in Art Deco Cloisters and more informal bar and lounge settings offering different ways to enjoy a city stay.

At a glance

• Location: Colchester
• Main restaurant: Cloisters
• Bedrooms / accommodation units: 26

Why we like it

GreyFriars connects the city with an individual hotel interior. Its group of historic buildings provides a more distinctive setting than a uniform modern property, while the location allows a Colchester visit to remain compact. It suits couples who want culture during the day and a settled dinner in the evening, with room choices that can make the overnight part of the occasion. The restaurant timetable is important: Cloisters has a more limited dinner pattern than the hotel's wider dining offer. Choose the dates and table together so the evening matches the reason for the trip.

Eat

Cloisters

Cloisters occupies the early twentieth-century part of GreyFriars and has an Art Deco character. The hotel offers table d'hôte and à la carte dining here, with British and European influences and a regional ingredient emphasis. The restaurant currently advertises dinner Friday to Sunday from 6pm. That specific pattern should guide a stay centred on this dining room. A general reference to dining elsewhere in the hotel on other days does not establish that Cloisters itself is open for dinner throughout the week. Reserve the named room when its setting is part of the occasion.

Baroque Bar and the Rose Room

The Baroque Bar and lounge spaces give GreyFriars a less formal side, useful for a drink or a meal when a full Cloisters dinner is not the plan. Afternoon tea is offered in Cloisters or the Rose Room in its published daytime window. These spaces have different purposes, so ask where the meal will be served rather than treating all the hotel photographs as interchangeable. A two-night city stay can make use of that variety: one evening in the restaurant, another kept more casual, with time for breakfast before going out into Colchester again.

Sleep

The hotel has twenty-six bedrooms, with named suites offering concrete differences. The Marcela Suite in the eighteenth-century building includes an emperor bed, fireplace and a balcony with a garden outlook. The Elisabeth is another suite in the original building, with a super-king bed and fireplace. St James' sits in the All Saints wing. These are individual room choices, not features to assume across the whole property. For guests who want the room to carry a celebration, comparing those settings is more useful than simply choosing the highest available category. Classic rooms provide a different, more practical route to the same restaurant and city location.

Retreat

Colchester's cultural quarter supplies the daytime focus. A visit can connect the city's historic attractions with a pause in the hotel before dinner, avoiding the need for an elaborate itinerary. Give separately managed attractions their own admission and opening checks. GreyFriars is an urban historic hotel, so the restful part of the stay comes from the room, lounges and meal rather than a rural estate. Its individual interiors make an afternoon at the hotel worthwhile in their own right, especially when the alternative is filling every hour with another stop around the city. Keep enough time between the last outing and dinner to enjoy the building you have chosen to stay in.

What guests say

Google rating: 4.5/5 from 1,057 reviews, checked 6 October 2026. Guests repeatedly praise the atmosphere, staff, breakfast and restaurant setting, with the restored buildings contributing to the occasion. Dining and bar service are broadly positive but less consistent than the surroundings, so an evening's pace can vary. The hotel suits guests who want an individual Colchester city stay with dinner on site. A named room and a table in the intended dining space are useful ways to align the reservation with that expectation.

The Gourmet Getaway

The indicative price panel combines accommodation and breakfast for two with dinner for two. Read the menu basis and eligible service days for the selected option, then confirm both reservations for your dates. Drinks, dish supplements and service are additional. Official hotel packages have their own inclusions and terms.

Worth knowing

• Cloisters currently advertises dinner Friday to Sunday from 6pm.
• Other hotel dining spaces have separate menus and service arrangements; confirm the setting you are reserving.
• Named suites have different buildings, layouts and features.
• Discuss access to the specific bedroom when steps or lift routes are important to the booking.

The Gourmet Getaways view

A persuasive Colchester choice for historic interiors, a comfortable overnight stay and a restaurant evening with a distinct setting. Plan around Cloisters' dinner days and choose the room by its actual features.