The Crown Hotel ***

Rating: 7.9

With real wood floors, open fires and original brickwork, the Crown is the perfect combination of old and new, whether you are visiting the area, planning a trip to Thorpe Park or stopping off on the way through to Heathrow. The Crown is a typical English pub with almost 50 rooms. It has my preference above many other (larger) hotels in the area, simply because of the atmosphere.

In 2013, the old bar was completely remodeled but I am glad the large old fireplace was kept. The courtyard garden is a nice place to relax four seasons a year and you can turn on the heaters as you wish.

With dining available in the dining room or throughout the pub and courtyard, there is always something you like. Personally I like their steak with a cognac sauce and pie. Their bavette steak is another favorite.

Sometimes you get a great surprise like I did one time when they organized a music festival in the parking lot. The festival was around Chesney Hawkins, an artist from Chertsey who has a number 1 hit in the England back in 1991. There were just a small audience as the festival was limited to people from the village only.

At a certain moment, at the end of his concert, Chesney said to the audience he had a surprise. His father was going to sing a few songs as well. We recognized who it was at the first notes of the song.

This was the first time I saw the lead singer from ’65 of the Tremeloes, “Chip” Hawkes perform live for fun because his son invited him to the stage. Do you remember “Silence is golden” or “Even the bad times are good“? We did and really enjoyed the evening and I've shared some of the video's in this blog of the performance.

Thanks to the O’Brien family, the landlords, who made my stay work out great many times!

CHERTSEY, SURREY, UNITED KINGDOM