purplebutterfly's Qype profile

We booked direct with this hotel via their online website and secured an amazing deal during Carnevale in February 2011.
For a lovely room with a small balcony and including breakfast, we paid the equivalent of £70 per night.
The hotel itself is well situated and not at all difficult to find if you do your Google maps research before you travel. It is only a few minutes from Piazzale Roma where the buses run to the mainland and it is equally close to the train station. There are water bus stops a minute’s walk from th hotel entrance and a great restaurant around the corner (Trattoria Dalla Zanze)
It is very clean with friendly staff who respond quickly to any email questions you may send prior to travel.
The rooms are small but that is to be expected in Venice – and they are certainly very pretty and well decorated.
Santa Croce is a great area to stay as you are close to great cafes and restaurants whilst still being far from the tourist areas around Saint Mark’s Square.
I recommend this hotel for first time travellers to Venice as it was our first experience of the city and this lovely hotel made it even more enjoyable.

We took refuge in Chez Chegrouni during a downpour and sat outside on the balcony watching life go on in Djema el Fnaa square.
The waiters were really friendly and nice and the food was lovely. We had soup, chips, a lamb tagine, bread and a couple of soft drinks and it came to £8. Bargain!
It might not be the best food in Morocco but it is sill tasty – and the cafe is perfectly situated and very clean with great toilets.
The unusual experience of writing your own order down and passing it to a waiter is also a nice touch

This is an absolutely incredible Indian restaurant – although we usually tend to order a takeaway and have it delivered.
The food is fantastic – not as authentic as Jali in Blackpool but a very close second. The portions are huge – the chicken tikka main course is massive! – and everything is top quality and cooked to perfection.
I’m not a huge fan of the atmosphere in the resutaruant as I find it a bit bright and modern for my taste but you really cannot fault the food.
It combines the subtle flavours of the spices with amazing sauces and the boiled rice is just wonderful.
It is very very reasonably priced and I cannot recommend it enough.

Having not had a hair cut for almost 12 months, I was in desperate need of a complete overhaul and decided to treat myself to a trip to Rory Blair as a birthday present. I had heard amazing things about both this salon and the one in Blackpool so I was suprised and delighted to get an appointment with only 2 days notice.

I arrived a little early, having made my way by public transport, and was seated in the reception area of a very busy salon. Being a Saturday morning, every chair was full and there was a the soothing babble of conversation and scissors snipping away.

Once I was taken through to meet my stylist, I began to relax. She listened attentively to what I wanted and made suggestions which I readily agrred to. THen I was whisked off behind a funky beaded curtain to the enclosed “hair-wash” area. This made it feel very exclusive and swanky but was incredibly relaxing with amazing Keratse products and a lengthy soothing head-massage during washing.

My haircut lasted nearly two hours - and it was absolutely perfect. t would be lovely to be able to afford to visit Rory Blair for every cut but unfortunately, it is just slightly out of my price range for regular visits

Both myself and my sister have had several haircuts at Truth and, overall, it is a fairly good salon. Twice I have had my cut by the Principal Senior Stylist and four times by the sylists a step below that.

The salon looks very trendy from the outside and inside it is stylish, with an exclusive salon feel. THe products used are all top quality and the seating is comfortable and expensive.

I went in asking for a plain haircut and came out with something lovely and stylish but not very practical. THat would be my only complaint about the place - if you want a boring and easy-to-manage cut, you are likely to find yourslef with something very up-to-date in the stlye factor but perhaps not what you originally wanted.

Both my sister and I felt compelled to “give in” to stylist recommendations rather than fighting our corner for what we wnated - and, in the end, we both stopped going as there was a feeling that we weren’t quite “trendy” enough to fit in there.

Overall it gave good haircuts at a mid price range which provides exceptional value for money as the stylists are all trained to the very highest of standards.

Great if you want a major change or to keep up with the latest styles - but a bit pricy if all you want is a quick trim.

A nice place to go for a quiet lunch, family meal or celebration - the trick is to time it right! Weekday lunchtimes are generally fairly quiet, with groups of elderly people, work colleagues and small groups of people enjoying a nice meal.

There are always offers on - usually 2 meals for £5 or similar - and the portion sizes are large so it is a great deal.

Weekends are usually very busy, often with larger family groups. Certain days like Mothers Day/Fathers Day and Easter Sunday are ridiculously busy and probably best avoided at peak times. Certainly if you have a group size of more than 6, it would be worthwhile asking for a table to be reserved.

The layout of the pub is quite good. The majority of “louder” people tend to congregate in the sports bar/pool room which is separated from the main lounge by a door, so keeps the noise down. There is a smaller area of the lounge with a TV showing sports and this often has small groups of people having a quiet drink. The larger side of thel iunge is the food area and is very comfortable. It is split-level with the higher level containing tables and sofa-bench seats around the walls, the lower area is set up as you would expect a restaurant/cafe to be with tables and chairs.

You order both food and drink at the bar - the food is then served to your table, you do not need to collect it.

Bar prices are standard pub prices and there is a wide range of drinks available - often with promotions.

Often holds family fun days in the Summer and has plenty of parking spaces. All in all, a good value, friendly, relaxed pub -definitely recommended

Luckily for us, we live 5 mins walk away from The Tramway so have ample opportunity to sample the delights of the carvery! The quality of the food has always been consistently high - as a fussy meat-eater, it always suprises me how much I enjoy the beef and turkey as I have been to expensive restaurants and eaten worse-cooked more gristly meat.
The selction of vegetables is brilliant - not too wide that you feel overfaced but more than enough to suit the tastes of adults and children alike. Caulifolwer cheese, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, peas, green beans, carrots, sweetcorn and an absolutely delicious thick rich gravy which you ladle out yourself - so feel free to drown the stuffing balls and yorkshire pudding in it!

What drives the price of your meal up is obviously the amount of drinks you have. Drinks are priced at normal pub prices and, although the bar staff are not the most efficient or well-organised, it does not detract from the value of the place.

Downsides to the Tramway are the peculiar, split-level layout which is not great for anyone with mobility problems. Certain areas are well lit and tables by the (smallish) windows are bright - but there are equally areas of darkness which are a problem for members of my family with visual impairments.

The music blasted over the speakers can, occasionally be overly loud - especailly if you are sat near the speakers, but a quick word with management usually sorts this out!

I’ve never been tempted to try food off the menu - although we have had some of the desserts which were standard pub fare and neither exceptional nor bad.

All in all, for a cheap meal in a very relaxed atmosphere, you cannot beat the Tramway carvery. Fantastic for families

I sent off a voucher for a free haircut and was contacted by this salon (being the only one in my area). I have to say that I would never have known about it otherwise as it is about 30 mins bus journey from my home and also only a small shop front on a busy main road. I had to walk up and down a couple of times to find it!

On entering the salon is really quite small but with a comfortable yet professional look and feel. I was intent on having my very long, thick hair cut into a very short, layered bob - and wasn’t sure that the free offer would cover this.

However, everytihng was indeed absolutely free - and when I asked what the normal prices were, i was pleasantly surprised to find them much much cheaper than any of the many salons I have visited over the years.

My haircut is incredible, the staff are amazing and I have already booked my next trim there in 6 weeks.

I was in the salon for nearly two hours, during which I had the best haircut of my life by an amazing stylist - and I also left with a stomache aching from laughing so much.

I felt completely comfortable and happy to say exactly what I wanted doing. I’ve already recommended this salon to family and friends. What a find!

This business has now closed

I have used Jonathon numerous times for small alterations and also for buying bits and bobs (ie thread, needles).
The shop is downstairs and has a good range of products, whilst the upstairs of the building is dedicated to Jonathon’s workshop where he does major alterations and also make his own dresses.

He has racks upon racks of exquisite wedding dresses and ballgown ready to buy - he can also show you examples of his work in order to create from scratch the dress of your dreams.

Earlier this year I asked him to make some major alterations to my wedding dress (which I had bough off Ebay). He was so lovely - putting up with all my changes of mind and unexpected visits to the shop. He also charged a surprisingly small sum for the work undertaken

I would definitely advise you to go to him in good time with any large-scale alterations or for any custom-made outfits, as he has many customers and only himself on the sewing machine!