My child-friendly city break at Manchester’s Kimpton Clocktower Hotel

After many years of living in and around Manchester, the sight of the clocktower on Oxford Road is almost as familiar to me as my own front door. But in all that time, I’ve never actually ventured inside. Yes, I’ve been to Refuge, and even Copper Face Jacks back in the day, but the hotel itself, never. That is until a few weeks ago when they invited my husband, my 11-year-old daughter and me to stay on a two-night family package over the Easter holidays.

This meant we didn’t have to go camping in North Wales after all, and the relief at that was felt by us all, I think. Hotel breaks are so much simpler, and one in your own city is about as easy as it gets. Especially when said hotel is within skipping distance of the train. Stepping out of Oxford Road Station, the first thing we saw was its grand terracotta facade and iconic tower. From the station to the hotel entrance was a two-minute walk. And stepping through that doorway was a revelation.

Formerly The Palace Hotel, and before that, the offices of the Refuge Assurance Company, The Kimpton Clocktower’s glass domed, marble-clad lobby took me by surprise. Despite passing this building hundreds, probably thousands, of times, I had no idea. And this isn’t one of those places that pours all its budget into the lobby and skimps on the rest; the glamour and opulence run throughout.

With its symmetrical stylings and glazed brickwork, The Kimpton Clocktower is the most Wes Anderson of all the Manchester hotels. In our double-double room, a retro red telephone sat between the beds, and a mid-century cabinet held the coffee machine and snack box. In the corner by the door, a vintage, disused elevator looked like a cross between The Grand Budapest Hotel and an episode of Uncanny.

With all this space, character and luxury, the room felt like a destination in its own right, and we had no real desire to go anywhere else that day. My daughter got to work showing her teddies around the bathroom and minibar while we collapsed on the beds with cups of tea and Tunnocks Caramels. The jet lag must have been catching up with me (we’d journeyed all the way from Glossop) because I fell asleep. I love afternoon naps but afternoon naps in grade 11-listed hotel rooms are in a class of their own.

Social Hour at The Kimpton Clocktower

Come 5pm, while my husband and daughter binge-watched Junior Taskmaster on the big TV from the comfort of their double beds, I headed downstairs to The Post Room where they were serving complimentary wine and beers to hotel guests.

The idea behind Kimpton’s daily ‘Social Hour’ is to give you a chance to chat with the other guests and swap sightseeing tips. I’d thought we might feel out of place with a child in a posh hotel but there were several families with children there, checking out the table tennis and the board games. Over the Easter weekend, the hotel team had put on various chocolate-related treats for little ones and shown family films in the hotel’s cinema room. And as you’ll see from our sightseeing itinerary below (we did leave the room, eventually), it’s in the perfect location for visiting Manchester’s family attractions.

Rather than being social in the Social Hour, I decided to take my glass of wine on a solo, self-led tour of the building – and it was one of my favourite parts of the whole stay. I found the huge ballroom in the basement; explored the details of the entrance hall (a life-size horse sculpture marks the spot where a carriage turning point once was), and climbed the bronze and marble, and allegedly haunted, staircase as far as I could go, taking in unfamiliar views of the city centre and the hotel.

Room service from The Refuge

That evening we’d planned to eat at Refuge, the Kimpton’s cool restaurant and bar, but as lovely as it is in there, could it really be as lovely as our room? Instead, we ordered room service and ate some of my favourite Refuge dishes sitting in bed. It was so good, and so easy, we did the same again on our second night there.

There’s always some tension involved in taking a child to a grown-up restaurant, no matter how civilised your offspring is. You can’t linger over your food, savouring each mouthful, because they’ll eat half theirs, proclaim they’re full, and then seconds later, ask when we’re leaving. Room service, on the other hand, lets you fully relax and enjoy dinner at your own pace. (And, if you overeat, as we did thanks to the addictive qualities of the lobster mac ’n’ cheese and Grandpa Greene’s ice cream, you don’t have far to go to sleep it off).

Breakfast at The Kimpton Clocktower

Also, I knew we’d be having breakfast in Refuge so we’d have a chance to enjoy its Victorian-gothic interior the next morning. I went for homemade granola, fresh exotic fruits, and an orange and ginger health shot, followed by pastries and Tiptree blackcurrant jam. The coffee was barista-made rather than from a machine. And if you had the appetite, you could go for a full English, or pancakes, or various cooked-to-order dishes.

On our second morning there, we ate breakfast underneath a famous Manchester mural I’d only ever seen on postcards. The ‘Glamour of Manchester’ design is taken from a 1920s guidebook. The slogan captions a picture of bellowing factory chimneys and rainy streets and I wonder if it was originally meant to be ironic. If so, the joke’s on them now. The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is one of the most glamorous places I’ve been.