All photos by Bryan Dearsley / LuxuryUK
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Motels never quite took off in Britain the way they did in the United States, which is what makes Mollie’s all the more special. And they got it right. This design-led group has taken the American roadside format, kept the red neon, the burgers, and the milkshakes, and added their own unique twist.
During a recent extended road trip across England, I had the pleasure of staying at both Mollie’s roadside sites: the original at Buckland in Oxfordshire, and the second at Cribbs Causeway on the northern edge of Bristol. Both were delightful experiences.
It was Darryl, my first contact at the Oxfordshire motel’s front desk, who put it best. I’d told her how comfortable I felt there, and she asked what it was I liked about the place. While I paused to consider, she jumped in and more or less answered it for me: “It feels like home, doesn’t it?”
Mollie’s Motels by Soho House
Yes, Darryl nailed it in just four words. And pondering it afterward, I realize by “home” she meant the warm Scandinavian tones and the lightly stained wood throughout the bedrooms and public spaces. Those solid wood doors, the large windows that keep everything bright, and the retro furnishings straight out of the 70s and 80s? Yes, they felt homey to a guy who’d grown up in those decades.
The phrase the company uses for what it’s doing (and doing well) is “budget luxe,” and it’s a fair description of the product. I’d go a step further, though, and call it “modest luxe,” or better still, “casual luxe.”
How so? Needing a room for a couple of nights on the edge of Bristol, I was impressed not just with the quality of everything from the fit and finish to the friendliness of the staff, but also the utter peace and quiet. With the motel just 200 yards from an M5 slip road, I’d expected to hear at least some traffic noise. But with the windows closed, I didn’t hear a thing.
That was the first of my Mollie’s stays, and why I made sure the Oxford leg of my road trip also included their original property. Add to this the fact that rates start at around £70 a night, the interiors are by the Soho House design team, and there’s a diner next door serving great American-style grub, and in my book, Mollie’s is onto something.
The Mollie’s Motel Story
Mollie’s is the idea of Nick Jones, the founder of Soho House, whose track record includes the original Soho House on Greek Street, Babington House in Somerset, and Soho Farmhouse near Chipping Norton. Mollie’s was a long-standing passion project, and his goal was to reinvent the British roadside stop.
The first Mollie’s Motel & Diner welcomed its first guests at Buckland, on the A420 between Oxford and Swindon, in January 2019, as a partnership between Soho House & Co and Quentin Restaurants. The blueprint was a 1950s American motel and drive-in diner, complete with classic red neon signs, burgers, shakes, and bottomless coffee. What it added was digital check-in, EV chargers, and rooms by Soho House Design, at prices aimed squarely at the territory occupied by big brands like Premier Inn and Travelodge.
In 2020, Mollie’s was spun out of Soho House as an independent company, Mollie’s Motels Limited. The Soho House interiors team still designs everything, which explains the Conran armchairs in the bedrooms and the Cowshed products in the bathrooms. In 2021, the company announced an aggressive target of 100 sites within 10 years and appointed agents to find two- to three-acre roadside plots for new builds, and city centre buildings that could be adapted.
The second Mollie’s opened at Cribbs Causeway in July 2021, with 123 rooms. The third, and the largest, opened in December 2025 in the Old Granada TV Studios on Quay Street in Manchester. It occupies 100,000 square feet of the 1956 modernist building where Coronation Street was once filmed, with 128 rooms spread across five floors, a diner, and the Studio IV cocktail and live music bar. There’s also a Soho House on the upper floors.
Brilliant By Design
The Buckland motel is on Shrivenham Road on the A420, 14 miles from the centre of Oxford. In addition to its 79 rooms, it features a general store that never closes, the diner (complete with a drive-thru), rapid EV charging, and plenty of parking. Rates vary by date and day of the week, and signing up to the brand’s newsletter, called Under the Neon, knocks 15 percent off a stay. For families, the bunk and connecting rooms are practical options in a part of Oxfordshire where most stays are pubs with rooms or country house hotels.
Check-in is painless, and if not done online, happens in the lobby, which doubles as the general store and is open 24 hours a day. This is where Darryl and her colleagues work, and it functions as far more than just a front desk. There’s a trendy lounge bar serving cocktails and mocktails, a workspace with charging points and Wi-Fi, a garden and terrace, and a self-service station where tea and filter coffee, the brand’s own blend, are free to guests.
What ties the public spaces to the bedrooms is that cozy design aesthetic Darryl described: oak, slate, retro-leaning furniture, and plenty of daylight through big windows. It’s the reason the lobby feels like somewhere to linger rather than a place to just collect a key.
The Bristol property opened as the brand’s second site with 123 rooms and public areas designed by the same design team. And its Cribbs Causeway location just off junction 17 of the M5, five miles north of the city centre and minutes from the point where the M4 and the M5 meet, is ideal to explore not just Bristol, but places like Thornbury, too. Head over the Severn, and you’ll be in Wales in half an hour, while the West Country, Gloucestershire, and the Cotswolds are an easy drive.
The Rooms at Mollie’s
Both sites have the same five room categories. Doubles have a king-size bed, Twins have two singles, and Accessible rooms come with a king with call buttons at both bedsides; they also have a wheelchair-accessible bathroom with an emergency pull cord, and the option to interconnect with a neighboring double for a companion or carer. Bunk rooms sleep four in two sets of bunks, and Connecting rooms pair a double with a twin for families.
At Buckland, every category shares the same core specification: a Hypnos mattress, Egyptian cotton sheets, a high-pressure rain shower, Cowshed toiletries, a Dyson Supersonic hairdryer, GHD straighteners, and a velvet armchair by Conran. The Bristol fit-out follows the same thinking. The finishes are natural oak and slate at Buckland, and natural oak and terrazzo at Bristol, and the doors at both are solid wood.
Speaking of wood, the designers did their homework. The abundance of wood trim and paneling in the rooms I stayed in not only looked good, but it felt good. And because I happened to be there in early July as the UK’s summer heatwave hit, the air- conditioning was a welcome inclusion.
Mollie’s Diners
Having a great place to grab some grub just steps away from each motel was a bonus. And these weren’t the kind of greasy spoons your parents were used to. Both Mollie’s Diners I sampled were clean, courteous, and fun. And the food was good, too, whipped up in an open kitchen visible from wherever you sit (except the outdoor terrace, of course).
The menu is classic Americana done properly. I’m a little embarrassed to say how many times I ate there (I went to the diner at both locations), but hey, their burgers are very, very good. At Bristol, I went for the burger special, which decadently added a layer of pork to something already substantial, and washed it down with their own branded Pale Ale, brewed by Forest Road Brewery in London.
Never one to give up on a good thing, I twice ordered a soft serve sundae. The build-your-own version lets you choose four toppings and a sauce, with brownie, Oreo, pistachio, and popping candy among the options.
In a very smart move (from a marketing perspective), the diners are separate from the motels, so they were busy with non-guests popping in for a meal. It also worked for me, as I actually felt a little like I was going out when all I had to do was walk a few hundred feet. The same for breakfast, and a creature of habit, I went for the pancakes (with a side of sausages, of course).
Mollie’s Is Oh So-ho Perfect
The fourth Mollie’s is headed for Edinburgh, Scotland. The company has purchased a 1.5-acre plot at Edinburgh Park, in the west of the city next to the Edinburgh Park railway station and tram stop. The plan? Build a 207-room motel and diner with a bar, an outdoor terrace, meeting space, and EV charging. If that sounds familiar, well, that’s because it is… you’ll feel as at home here as you did in Oxford, Bristol, and Manchester.
The target is an opening in 2028, timed to coincide with the 8,500-capacity Edinburgh Arena being built alongside it. After that, the world, as they say, is Mollie’s oyster.
Having stayed at both of Mollie’s roadside sites, I can recommend either to anyone wanting a well-designed, well-priced, and casually luxurious base while exploring the country. Here’s what I learned along the way to help you get the most from a stay:
- Book direct through com or the Mollie’s app for the best rates, digital check-in, and the digital key, which can be shared with others in your party.
- Family bunk rooms and connecting rooms make both sites rare roadside properties that are ideal for families.
- Check-in is 3 pm, check-out is 11 am, with early check-in and late check-out available subject to availability (don’t be shy to ask).
- Sign up to the Under the Neon newsletter for 15 percent off your next stay.
- Parking is free and plentiful at both sites, with rapid and overnight EV charging on site and chargeable through the app.
- Infant cots (for children up to three) are free but must be booked in advance. Accessible rooms can be interconnected with a double room and should be booked online or through the app.
- Dogs are welcome in designated areas of the diner. Check the motel’s policy for rooms before booking.
- Ask at reception about tea and coffee arrangements in your particular room at Bristol, as the corridor water taps may or may not be near you.
- The Grab & Go service is worth knowing about if you are leaving early and want breakfast for the road.
- For reservations or more information, visit mollies.com.
- On-site parking is free, with accessible bays and electric vehicle charging.
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Travel and lifestyle writer Bryan Dearsley is Editor of LuxuryUK, a leading source of news and reviews relating to luxury lifestyles and travel in the United Kingdom, as well as RileyMag.com.
