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Hotel Hit Squad: The rooms may be a bit bright for Glasgow, but there’s lots to love at the Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens

The new look of Hotel du Vin Glasgow feels like a pastiche of Californian boutique hotels
The new look of Hotel du Vin Glasgow feels like a pastiche of Californian boutique hotels

You make memories at hotels. And each is haunted in its way. Every time I walk into One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow, the dark woodwork of the curving staircase leading up to all that ornate stained glass from the late 19th century makes me feel like I’ve wandered into the opening paragraphs of James Joyce’s The Dead. It is handsome, grand and suits an afternoon of fresh snow and hanging fog.

Recently, much of the original floor tiling in the entrance hallways to what is currently the Hotel du Vin was revealed and sympathetically restored. It embroiders the narrative. This would be a superb place to spend Christmas. Except, these aren’t my first thoughts when I arrive at One Devonshire Gardens. Instead, my mind lurches back to a close friend’s wedding 10 years ago, when I first stayed here. The reception was at Cottiers, a Victorian church converted into a theatre and restaurant. After the cake and the dancing, some of us remained unsated, so went to Tennent’s Bar in Byres Road – the dive to end all dives.

Someone audaciously asked for a bottle of red. “There be dragons!” Something dust-covered and violently astringent was produced. It was undrinkable. So, we drank it. The next morning, I opened my eyes, scrolled through numerous photographs of me on my phone leaping enthusiastically on the four-poster bed in my room, and searched for a place to die.

Hotel du Vin Glasgow
This is perhaps the fanciest Hotel du Vin in the country

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No amount of interior pizzazz or sombre lighting can make up for The Worst Hangover Ever. But there was something about this Hotel du Vin before its recent refurbishment – with its old gothic palette and imposing wooden sleigh and four-poster beds – that felt apposite for The Morning After. You could imagine yourself in Fading Away, Henry Peach Robinson’s elegiac mid-19th century photograph of a figure ebbing into the great beyond on their bed, surrounded by bonnets and crinolines. The recent restyling of the hotel pulled all of that away, and now it feels like a pastiche of Californian boutique hotels.

The new look of this, perhaps the fanciest Hotel du Vin in the country, is inspired by the nearby Botanic Gardens. Interior designer Anita Rosato has filled the bedrooms with bright flower and leaf prints, sunshine yellow and orange. I get it, but it feels odd for Glasgow, which isn’t a sunshine kind of a place. Which is just as well for the Hotel du Vin in some respects, because the amalgamation of townhouses that make up the property still don’t have air-conditioning. When I stayed in Chateau Bauduc (from £183 per night) towards the end of the summer, the bathroom was stifling, and there was just a single fan in the lounge. But there was a doorway to an enclosed courtyard in which it would be lovely to sink a bottle of dry riesling.

While the nearby Botanics have taken over the aesthetic of the hotel, the predictable wine theme remains, and the Bistro du Vin is a major part of the business. I’m glad the restaurant still feels perpetually like winter, in a cosy way. For a while it was a default treat-night restaurant and attracted all sorts. My mother-in-law stage-whispered to our whole table one evening: “Look, it’s Emma Thompson!” And it was. Then I had a couple of atrocious meals here, and shifted allegiance to Rogano as default special occasion dining spot. My most recent visit to Bistro du Vin suggests it has some of its mojo back. And it clearly still has a strong pull for locals, although the loss-making ghost of Gordon Ramsay’s Amaryllis restaurant (which closed 15 years ago) still lingers.

Hotel du Vin Glasgow - Credit: x-default/Andrew Rae
The food is less about fine dining and more about solid gastropub plates Credit: x-default/Andrew Rae

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Today the menu is less about fine dining and more about solid gastropub plates. Chef Gary Townsend focuses on Scottish produce and elevates things gently: east coast mackerel comes with cucumber, oyster emulsion and crème fraîche; Orkney scallops have a tandoori spice with butternut squash. A leg and heart of duck lands with girolles and apricot. It’s inventive but not bewildering. For me, this dining room always calls for steak (here served with smoked pommes mousseline), and a bottle of Barolo Bussia. It’s a restaurant, and bar, to hole up in while the weather does whatever it might outside, with spring still a long way off.

While I’m not a fan of the new look of One Devonshire Gardens, there’s still much to love. The hallways, the restored tiles, stained glass and history feel so right for winter. Arriving, or indeed leaving, has a kind of magic. The terrace and façade of each townhouse, with their columns and fir trees wrapped in fairy lights, make for a lovely piece of theatre. It’s a home to the ghost of Christmas past, present and future – all year round.

Rooms from £95 per night (£105 including breakfast). There is one accessible room. 

Read the full hotel review: Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens