The Northgate

The Northgate

, Northgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

The Northgate is a striking Victorian townhouse transformed into a fun and vibrant hotel, restaurant and cocktail bar in the heart of Bury St Edmunds. It’s a small city steeped in history, and the iconic Abbey Gardens are just a few minutes walk from the hotel.

The cocktail bar doubles as a sitting room, with doors opening onto a sunny terrace and a well-tended garden beyond. As well as an ample range of drinks this is also the place to enjoy the quite surprising bar snack menu or sample The Northgate’s own take on afternoon tea.

In the restaurant, Head Chef Greig Young consciously crafts menus that reflect guest’s tastes and awareness for our environment. From vegan dishes created with sustainably sourced regional produce to heritage dishes that minimise food waste; this is at the heart of all they do. Breakfast includes a generous buffet with various cooked options including ‘Full Suffolk’, Eggs Benedict, Royale or Florentine, smoked salmon and porridge. There’s a lunchtime set menu where the cucumber gazpacho starter with Cromer crab and yoghurt sets our tastebuds tingling. Then there is dinner: our choice would be hand-cut beef tartare, roast monkfish and whipped Tosier chocolate with creme de cacao ice cream, but yours may be entirely different. And if you couldn’t choose, perhaps the Taste of East Anglia selection of small plates is just the thing for you.

The bedrooms are an oasis of calm with muted colours and smart wooden furniture, all the while celebrating the original period features of the house, including original fireplaces and sash windows. All the rooms have king size beds (or twins) with smart feature headboards, televisions, wi-fi, tea and coffee making and a generous en-suite bathroom with a shower and maybe a bath. two rooms have a big free-standing bath in the room.

Bury St Edmunds is one of those small English cities like Wells or St Davids, where its charm and interest stands far above its size. There’s the abbey gardens, the cathedral (since only 1914, but with origins going back to medieval time), the Theatre Royal and The Nutshell, Britain’s smallest pub. Its also the gateway to East Anglia.