Opul Boutique at Admiral House

Opul Boutique occupies Admiral House at 12 Loch Promenade, a cream stuccoed Victorian on the Douglas seafront with columns either side of the door and arched windows at ground level.

Two signs mark it: the old painted nameboard reading Admiral House over the porch, and a black OPUL BOUTIQUE panel above the entrance. Step through and the ground floor is not what the frontage prepares you for. It has been opened right up, pale timber floors, glass globe pendants, a reception desk beneath a big sunburst clock.

Coffee counter, cocktail counter

Past reception the room turns into a café and bar. Burnt-orange banquettes run along one wall, round tables and cream tub chairs in front, a mural of two eyes painted large above the seating. The bar is a curved timber counter with stools drawn up and a lit wall of bottles behind. A bay window at the far end takes its own table. A white spiral staircase turns through a bright well, and there is a lift too.

Oak beds, white walls

Bedrooms are pared back and generous: white walls, grey carpet, oak bed frames, a desk and chair, wall lights either side of the bed. Some have a small sofa in the window bay, and the front windows look over the promenade to the sea wall and the bay. Bathrooms are tiled white with a red and navy band running round, some with a bath, some a shower. A coffee machine, kettle, robes and toiletries are standard, and one room is set up for families with a double and a single.

On the front at Douglas

You are on the promenade itself, the beach across the road and the bay curving away beyond. Everything else in Douglas is reachable on foot from this end of the front.

Who books it

People who would rather have a bar and a coffee downstairs than go looking, couples after a room facing the water, and families needing the extra bed. The lift counts if stairs are a problem.