Friday 6 June 2008

Europe's finest hotel - in the pubic triangle


Walk past Edinburgh's seedy Western Bar and turn left near the Burke and Hare pub - “lap dancing” is proclaimed above its entrance - and next door to an establishment called Hooters you will find what you're looking for, a gem among the filth.

Welcome to the Knight Residence, the hotel that has seen off rivals such as the Hotel Georges V, in Paris, the Hotel Adlon Kempinski, in Berlin, and the Mandarin Oriental, in London, to be crowned Europe's best.

The Knight Residence was proclaimed the finest following a survey of 160,000 visitors to the internet travel website Expedia.com. Its nearest British rival is more than 200 places down the list of best places to stay, and only nine other establishments in the world are rated better than Edinburgh's winner. Yet here it stands, surrounded by these strip joints, a sauna and a sex-shop.

Talk about against all odds. Even the management of the Knight Residence admit that this is an unlikely location for a luxury hotel, particularly one that specialises in family accommodation.

It stands close to the heart of Edinburgh's notorious “Pubic Triangle”, where, lured in by tacky fairy lights and thumping music, many a stag party has foundered; it is rumoured that whole coach loads of visiting Welsh rugby fans have disappeared.


This a great story. Read more here: Don't blush.

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