Travel without the style

A gang of us are currently in the throes of organising a trip to the country to attend a mate's wedding and, from the helpfully provided list of accommodation --boutique hotels, farmhouses, pubs with B&B facilities - we've plumped for a nearby Travelodge.

The glamorous wedding venue will provide all the thrills and frills we need for the weekend, otherwise our needs will be basic. It seems there is a place in everyone's life for downmarket but functional venues.

'But these are the sort of people you'll find staying at your Travelodge,' opines my friend Karin, referring to the clientele as we ponder the bar part of this new tripartite - bar, patisserie/salon, restaurant - social experience, which occupies the ground floor of the recently refurbished Waldorf Hilton hotel. And she's right.

Two girls are sporting crinkle-cut haircuts - aka council house facelifts - and knocking back lager (with lime, presumably), and most of the guys are wearing drip-dry suits and smoking Lambert & Butler cigarettes.

The design is apparently intended to pay homage to the grand cafes of Europe, but judging by the patterned silver walls and net drapes in the bar, my guess is that those responsible for researching the finished product bypassed those formidable, imposing atria of Paris, Brussels and Vienna, and settled for a lapdancing club in Azerbaijan instead.

A young, friendly team of staff seem keen to please and the cocktail list looks promising. The bar's choice of spirit brands, however, tends towards the mediocre, but this isn't reflected in the inflated prices - a Mai Tai will set you back a hard-to-swallow £11, and other cocktails are served for no less than £7.

The Perfect Manhattan (£8) is a balanced mix of sweet and dry vermouth and rye whiskey, and here it came well prepared, while a Black Friars cocktail of Plymouth Original Strength gin (41.2% ABV) with vermouth, Angostura bitters, orange curacao, Benedictine and cognac is just the warming drink you need on a chilly winter's evening.

The food is typical hotel fare - a plate of smoked salmon with a lemon wedge wrapped in muslin (£9), beef burger with onion rings and fries (£12), and a club sandwich (£9), which, like the drinks on offer, underestimates the desires and needs of much of the population.

I don't doubt there are personalities and creative minds among the day-to-day operational management team - an essential ingredient for a successful operation - but I do feel that they're probably stifled by the corporate hotel world, which is waiting to suck all the energy out of the place.

Having said this, I look forward to returning again one day soon to visit the patisserie, where I can enjoy an afternoon of tea and scandal.

Homage Bar
22 Aldwych, WC2B 4DD