Parker’s Piece, Cambridge
University Arms Hotel, Autograph Collection
Cambridge's oldest hotel, opened in 1834 as a 15-room coaching inn on Regent Street facing Parker's Piece, and rebuilt in an £80m project behind its sandstone facade, reopening in August 2018 with 189 rooms and suites over four floors. Classical architecture by John Simpson replaced the 1960s extension, and Martin Brudnizki's interiors draw on college libraries, with Heywood Hill bookshelves and Cambridge portraits.
Marriott Luminous
Ready to Travel Different?
- Advice from our own stay, in February 2025
- Preferred-partner benefits through Marriott Luminous: a room upgrade, daily breakfast and early check-in and late checkout
- Industry insight on rates, seasons and timing
- One contact before, during and after the stay
About the property
- Opened
- 1834
- Rooms
- 182
- Suites
- 10
- Renovated
- 2018
- Architecture
- John Simpson
- Interiors
- Martin Brudnizki
- Owned by
- Melford Capital
From our stays
We stayed in February 2025
Rooms and suites
Cosy Room
18–22 sq m · double bed
Classic Room (King or Twin)
21–24 sq m · writing desk
Classic Park View
22–24 sq m · Parker's Piece view
Superior Room (King or Twin)
24–38 sq m
Superior Park View
26–35 sq m · Parker's Piece view
Suites
Terrace Suite
27–40 sq m · Parker's Piece view · top floor, private balcony
Suite
45–60 sq m · Parker's Piece view · each named after a Cambridge-affiliated author or alumnus (Tennyson, A. A. Milne and Rosalind Franklin among them), with a library curated by Heywood Hill and a large sitting area
Dining
- Parker's Tavern
- British brasserie · breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner
- Parker's Tavern Bar
- cocktail and wine bar
- The Library
- library
Where it is
- London Stansted Airport
- 41 min by car
- London Luton Airport
- 1 h by car
Regent Street, Cambridge
Open in Google MapsQ&A
Pay for a Park View room to look over Parker's Piece. Among the suites, the Terrace Suites on the top floor have private balconies over the green, and two suites have bathrooms in the original turrets, with claw-foot baths facing Parker's Piece.
Cosy Room (18–22 sq m), Classic Room (King or Twin) (21–24 sq m), Classic Park View (22–24 sq m), Superior Room (King or Twin) (24–38 sq m) and Superior Park View (26–35 sq m). Suites: Terrace Suite (27–40 sq m) and Suite (45–60 sq m).
We book University Arms Hotel, Autograph Collection through Marriott Luminous, so you get a room upgrade on arrival when one is available, daily breakfast for two and early check-in and late checkout when available, at no extra cost to you. Some hotels add a US$100 credit; most do not.
Parker's Tavern, british brasserie of reworked classics using Cambridgeshire produce (Breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea); Parker's Tavern Bar, cocktail and wine bar and The Library, library with a Heywood Hill collection, also used for meetings.
On Regent Street facing Parker's Piece, the green where the rules of football were first drawn up, in central Cambridge.
University Arms Hotel, Autograph Collection opened in 1834. It was last renovated in 2018: two-year, £80m rebuild behind the 1834 facade: 1960s extension replaced by a neoclassical wing by John Simpson, interiors by Martin Brudnizki, 73 rooms added; reopened August 2018.
Opened in 1834 as a 15-bedroom coaching inn on Parker's Piece, later extended with a 1960s concrete block. Melford Capital bought the hotel from De Vere in 2012, and a two-year, £80m rebuild kept the original facade: classical architect John Simpson replaced the 1960s block with a neoclassical wing and added a porte-cochère modelled on the colonnade of the Ritz in London, while Martin Brudnizki designed the interiors, with art curated by Adam Ellis. Reopened in August 2018 as part of Marriott's Autograph Collection.
