It’s about time someone revived the roadside cafe in the UK but I never would have thought it would be done by Soho House.Transforming an old service station into an American diner and Motel is such a fun concept and at £50 a room (£75 for a 4 person bunk room) what’s not to love? (The prices will go up by £25 in a few months’ time.)

Do note that you need to download the Mollie’s app to book the Motel and see availability. It also allows you to remotely check in and out and acts as your room key (although I couldn’t get the ‘key’ to work for some reason).

We took the kids and therefore had to book two rooms and then request that they interconnected.

Check-in is not until 3pm and if you’re going with kids bear in mind that this is a Motel so there’s not much in the way of things to do. We had had a busy day and our boys are slightly older now so they were quite happy to loaf around and enjoy the very comfy big bed (which we had a job to get them out of!).

The Motel is a separate building from the diner and is of a simple courtyard construction with a linking central barn-like reception/lounge/shop.

As it has large windows either side, the lounge is wonderfully light and a gorgeous place to just sit and relax or simply admire all the beautifully chosen furniture. We really loved the (very good) complimentary coffee and tea, the interiors and the fantastic coffee-table books.

The ‘General Store’ sells drinks, snacks, Cowshed products and a few other select bits and pieces. (There are no mini bars in the rooms.)

The bedrooms themselves are very simple and come in two categories – ‘Bunk’ or ‘Standard’. True to Soho House form the beds are huge, the sheets crisp and everything’s done beautifully. Obviously they’re only designed for a quick stop-over, there’s not a lot of storage space or a towel rail for example; its no-frills but done stylishly.

We had dinner and breakfast at the diner. Thankfully we managed to get a table quickly as it was packed on a Saturday night.

It definitely felt like we’d been transported State-side. I didn’t take many pics in the evening as it was quite dark. When it’s busy it is quite loud – probably not the best place for a date night.

For dinner we ate burgers, rotisserie chicken, crinkle-cut chips and a side of avocado and sweetcorn salad. The burgers were good but not as good as the ones at other Soho Houses (I think I’ve been spoilt). I loved the chicken which was quite spicy (think Piri-Piri) and the salad was amazing – I would definitely order these again. The hot sauce on the table was pretty good too.

For dessert the boys had apple pie which was served at the table and I had a banana split.

We were pretty full after that!

Breakfast is always a favourite in our family and this one was particularly memorable – the boys are still raving about it.  They had waffles – one with bacon and the other with berries, I had a veggie breakfast (I’d go back for the hash browns alone) and the hubby had a very healthy grains and eggs (I think it was more healthy than tasty though!).

All-in-all our trip to Mollie’s was a great success. From there we drove 30 minutes to Oxford (which I might do a mini-post on) but I would also use this as a pit-stop for Soho Farmhouse, Blenheim Palace and Bicester Village among others and with further Mollie’s Motels in the pipeline for Manchester and Bristol, suddenly long drives seem that much more appealing.

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