Get locked up in a prison turned luxury hotel

12:32am Friday 6th April 2007

Sarah Walker gets locked up at a former prison turned luxury hotel in Oxford... and you could too

WALKING into the dark underbelly of Malmaison in Oxford is like stumbling across the set of Bad Girls.

In fact, it is exactly that - as programme-makers regularly used this authentic ex-prison to film the TV series, along with episodes of plenty of other behind-bars dramas.

Of course, this was all before luxury leisure chain Malmaison waved its magic wand across the run-down cells of what was HM Prison Oxford, and transformed the place into the swanky and splendidly-surreal hotel that it is today.

Malmaison could not be better located for a visit to Oxford. It is literally embedded in the epicentre of the town with its diverse mix of entertainment, from culture-rich galleries and architecture to trendy, university-crowd-pulling bars and restaurants.

Yet, as soon as you get behind the bolted doors of the former 11th-century castle, it somehow feels as if you couldn't possibly be that close to civilisation.

I arrived at Malmaison on a stormy Sunday afternoon and crept through the cool, grey, cobbled entrance hall to the hotel's reception area, half-expecting to be greeted by a hard-faced prison warden-esque receptionist - either that or the Grim Reaper.

My expectations of evil were proved very wrong, however, as a chirpy and very helpful female member of staff checked me and my partner in with ease, and quickly showed us through to A wing - home to the room we were to be banged-up in for the night.

I knew Malmaison used to be a prison, and I knew it had kept some of its original jailhouse features, but still I gasped in amazement as I left the lift and was faced with the narrow, criss-crossing metal staircases and regimented line-up of teeny cell doors that border the centre of the hotel, the same ones that shut out the world for inmates just a short decade or so ago. And that is what makes a trip here much more than just a night away from home.

Standard rooms are a generous three-cells deep, so a double is spoilt with the same space that was once dedicated to 12 prisoners. There is just enough prison character in the authentic lead doors, pokey barred windows and exposed brick walls to excite the average thrill-seeker, but in no way will you feel you are being left to rot at Malmaison.

With a plasma-screen television, CD/DVD player, fully-stocked mini-bar, a bed so comfortable it would only ever have been the stuff of inmates' dreams, guests at the hotel have everything they need and more in their cells. Which would probably account for the fact that I seldom crossed another soul's path mid-corridor at Malmaison, although the discarded room-service trays outside many of the doors assured me there were plenty in residence.

I am sure many guests spend their entire stay here in the bathroom, and if I had not had the lure of dinner in my mind, I too would have splashed around in my deliciously-deep roll-top bath for several more hours than I did, before stepping out onto the heated slate floor and straight into a crisp waffle robe. No need to sneakily slip the toiletries into your bag at Malmaison either, the lush and quirkily-labelled products, including "fresh as a daisy" body lotion and "clean as a whistle" soap, are yours to take home and enjoy, guilt-free.

Gruel is nowhere to be seen on the menu at Malmaison's chic brasserie restaurant, just plenty of good old-fashioned grub.

My delicious evening meal consisted of hearty oxtail soup, a rich and fluffy plate of spinach and ricotta cannelloni, and scoops of yummy chocolate and strawberry ice cream while my partner ate a bowl of warming winter vegetable broth followed by the classic Mal burger - wonderfully fresh and smoky, and served with a cup of seriously-tasty, chunky chips - and a bitter-sweet chocolate fondant.

We enjoyed post-dinner drinks in the Visitors Room, a fourth floor, dimly-lit champagne bar that would not be out of place in London's Kensington or Chelsea. Dripping in chocolate-brown and aubergine velvet furnishings, the intimate watering hole is a perfect place for guests to unwind and enjoy a cocktail or two, alongside local twenty-somethings who have clearly cottoned-on to its super-cool nightspot potential.

After a great night's sleep, we awoke refreshed and peckish, and headed back down to the deep dungeon lair of the brasserie - which looked far brighter and cheerier in the light of a spring day - for a spot of breakfast. Guests have two options: a continental buffet of bread, pastries, cereals, yoghurt and fruit for £11.95, or a cooked plate for an extra couple of pounds. I was happy with coffee and croissants but my partner plumped for a crusty sausage and bacon-filled roll, which he nibbled while perusing the morning's newspaper, and we were both set up nicely for a morning stroll around the shops of Oxford.

If a stay at Malmaison were a true reflection of prison life, I would be hammering the door down to serve a sentence.

In fact, give me life.

Malmaison can be found at 3 Oxford Castle, New Road, Oxford OX1 1LD. For more information, telephone 01865 268 400 or visit www.malmaison.com

Limited Edition has teamed up with Malmaison Oxford to offer one reader the chance to win dinner, bed and breakfast for two at the hotel.

To be in with a chance, simply answer the following question and fill in the form below.

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