I stayed as a paying guest at the Holiday Inn Newcastle South. An IHG hotel located on Boldon Business Park at Boldon Colliery. The hotel reopened in September 2025 following a rebrand and refurbishment from the former Clarion Hotel.
During my stay, I used the room, leisure club/pool, restaurant/bar, and breakfast service. This post reflects my experience of the hotel following its rebrand to Holiday Inn.
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TL:DR
I had a positive stay at Holiday Inn Newcastle South. With modern refurbished rooms, excellent leisure club with a pool and sauna. There was free parking, clear signage, and friendly, professional service.
Arrival, Parking and Hotel Rebrand
The hotel originally operated as a Clarion Hotel, a brand of Choice International Hotels. Meanwhile, the wedding and events side of the business continues to trade as Boldon Park, which remains a separate Boldon Park events venue.
In September 2025, the hotel completed its rebrand and refurbishment to become the Holiday Inn Newcastle South hotel, part of IHG Hotels. As part of this work, the hotel opened up the reception area and retained the leisure club, including the large pool, gym, and sauna. At the same time, it refurbished the restaurant and bar. The site now displays a Holiday Inn by IHG sign, and the hotel offers complimentary parking, which makes this a hotel with free parking in Newcastle South more appealing.
On arrival, I saw the green hotel sign on the main road and therefore clear Holiday Inn by ihg signage guided me onto Boldon Business Park near Boldon Colliery. As I turned left into the car park, another sign clearly listed Holiday Inn, with Hotel Reception, Boldon Fitness, and Parking all directed to the left. The signage directed all deliveries to the right.
I found plenty of available parking in the car park. As a result, access and parking feel straight-forward for anyone looking at hotels near Boldon Business Park or an IHG hotel in Newcastle South with a pool and leisure club.
Reception and Check-in Experience
I arrived at reception at the Holiday Inn Newcastle South hotel and three members of staff in IHG uniforms greeted me. They looked smart and came across as friendly, welcoming, and polite.
Because I have status with the IHG hotel chain, the team upgraded my room without me asking. They also offered me a small welcome amenity snack at the front desk. I had already pre-booked breakfast with the room, and under normal circumstances I would have been offered welcome points, breakfast, or a drink in the bar. However, I had overlooked this when booking as I had already paid for breakfast as part of the room charge. So they offered me a choice of points or a drink voucher instead. I already had plenty of points, so I chose the drink.
The receptionist gave me directions to my ground-floor room and explained breakfast times and leisure club opening hours. Everything was clear.
Rooms at Holiday Inn Newcastle South
When I got to the room, I made a cuppa or two of tea. The room was an upgraded one rather than the standard room I had booked. It looked clean with modern furniture and a clean, modern bathroom, although the shower was not walk-in. IHG One Rewards members automatically get free WiFi (it’s also free to join and collect loyalty points). It is important though, despite the wifi being free, that you use a VPN for travel, not just at this hotel, but anywhere you connect publically or for free including supermarkets/cafes etc. I have written an extensive article about the reasons why.
I was also not keen on the rigid and bulky, uncomfortable desk chair, which wedged me against the bed when pulled out. This was due to limited space and would have been better with an office-style chair with wheels and no restrictive armrests wedging my hips in for working on a laptop.
Importantly, there was a power socket on either side of the bed. This matters to me for a medical device and is something I look for when staying at any hotel, not just the IHG hotel in Newcastle South with leisure club facilities.
The premium room came with an enhanced tea tray including hot chocolate sachets and also contained individual Biscoff biscuits. Plus there was a Nespresso machine with two pods, however, I did not use it during my stay. Additionally the room welcome tray had two Kit Kats, two packets of crisps, and two bottles of water. In the fridge, there was a can of full-sugar Coke and a full-sugar Fanta, both of which I left untouched. I would have preferred a sugar-free option.
The bathroom and shower was compact with a shower head over the bath making it quite narrow.
That said, I had a good night’s sleep though, thanks to the blackout curtains. The bed was really comfortable, as I would expect from IHG brand consistency, and there were plug sockets on either side of the bed.
I have also previously written about my stay at the Holiday Inn Dumfries.
Leisure Club, Pool and Sauna
I went to use the pool in the leisure club at 7:15pm and, for the most part, I had it to myself. However, the pool closed at 8pm, and staff advised me to be out of the water by 7:45pm. I still managed some 30 lengths and time in the hot tub. The pool is clean, it wasn’t too warm but at least it wasn’t cold either. The pool is 15 metres in length, and has a consistent depth of 1.4 metres. There is also a large hot water jacuzzi adjacent to the pool, as well as both male and female saunas.
There are separate male and female changing rooms, as you would expect. These have coded lockers for your belongings, as well as a toilet and showers. The showers could use some maintenance, as in the one I tried the water was spraying out of the central faucet rather than the shower head. I accessed the gym, sauna, and pool area to the left of the reception desk, and as an overnight guest I had to sign in and out. Towels are provided.
Changing Rooms
What these changing rooms lack is a swimsuit spinner (imagine an electric salad spinner!) to remove excess water from wet pool garments. While there was a roll of plastic bags available to help yourself to, this still meant leaving with soaking wet gear. I showered back in my room due to the broken shower faucet.
Restaurant and Bar
I went to the restaurant and bar area to grab something to eat. A private party for someone’s 70th birthday was starting, and many people were waiting to enter an adjacent function room. Because the function involved meals and coincided with the post Christmas break, the kitchen was short on several items. As a result, the team could not offer the usual full menu.
Dinner
This reduced the main course options to pasta with three different sauce choices, a bacon cheeseburger with fries and no salad, and a third option, all priced at £15 each. There were also three starter choices at £5 each and three dessert choices, also priced at £5.
The bar had also run out of Guinness, which this hotel would usually sell in Nitrosurge cans rather than on draught. I ended up settling for a pint of John Smiths and a burger, neither of which I would normally choose.
The burger meat itself was questionable. It did not smell or taste like beef and had an orange tinge to the patty element. It felt closer to a vegan-style patty than a beef burger. I also switched the bacon for a fried egg, which meant that if the patty was not beef, I had effectively removed the only confirmed meat component. It was served with fries but no salad.
I had limited other options, as I do not eat pizza or takeaway-style junk food. However, the meal was enough to see me through until breakfast. I saw some other guests in the bar area had ordered from a local chinese takeaway to consume in their rooms.
Breakfast
I had my usual four eggs, plus some scrambled egg, mushrooms, beans, and natural yoghurt. Then I had a cappucino disguised as an americano from the machine. I noticed the kitchen team wanted to inject a bit of humour into guests morning grogginess with their boiled egg presentation (below).
In my opinion, the bean-to-cup coffee machine let down the breakfast service. It was not working properly. Credit is due to the blonde waitress, who persevered and tried her best to get it working. However, the bigger issue is that the machine uses powdered milk. As we are fast approaching 2026, I thought powdered milk machines departed modern civilisation with the likes of school vending machines!. The hotel should use a machine that takes real milk instead of one that keeps clogging up.
In the end, I gave up waiting. I took the americano that the machine produced, when I pressed cappuccino. I then added fresh milk from the cereal buffet. The waitress later managed to get the machine working again. She offered to make me another coffee, but I politely declined as I did not want powdered milk.
Who The Holiday Inn Newcastle South Hotel Is Best Suited For?
The hotel sits on Boldon Business Park, which is home to major logistics and industrial companies such as Evri (Hermes), Whistl, Balfour Beatty, and a BMW/Mini dealership, amongst many other businesses. You can read more about the park’s development on Invest South Tyneside.
The surrounding area also includes fast-food restaurants, a cinema, an Asda supermarket, and a petrol filling station. The Holiday Inn Newcastle South sits close to the main road networks and the Tyne Tunnel, which makes access straightforward.
Holiday Inn Newcastle South: Final Thoughts
Overall, I had a positive stay at the Holiday Inn Newcastle South. The refurbished room was comfortable, I slept well, and the bedside power sockets were a genuine plus for me. The leisure club, particularly the pool, is a strong asset, and the hotel offers free parking, with guests required to register their number plate on arrival. Staff at reception and breakfast were friendly and professional, and the upgrade and welcome amenity were appreciated. While the dinner offering and coffee machine had limitations during my stay, none of that detracted from what was, overall, a comfortable and convenient hotel stay.
Travel Gear Used on This Trip
On this trip, I travelled with the following bags I always use from Stubble & Co:
- Adventure Bag – I have already reviewed this here.
- Tech Bag – I have also published a full review of this.
- Hybrid 30L Backpack
- Crossbody
