Where to stay in Cloverdale?

A couple of nights ago I was driving home and in front of me was a car advertising a B & B called the Cloverdale Manor. I'd never heard of it before. In fact I'd never heard of any bed and breakfast places in Cloverdale. Near Cloverdale, yes, particularly in White Rock and other parts of Surrey.

So I googled it. http://www3.telus.net/cloverdalemanor/

Its not exactly in Cloverdale, about a mile out. But the house looks nice, its in an easy drive from Highway 10, and is in a quiet location.

Go another mile and one can stay at the Ramada Inn on the corner of Highway 10 and 192 Street. Again, not exactly Cloverdale, more like the Surrey/Langley border but probably the closest decent hotel. http://www.ramadalangleysurrey.com/

And of course in other parts of Surrey and Langley there are many hotels.

So what does that leave in Cloverdale? I mean in the center of town, within walking distance to shopping, the Clova theatre, and to the fairgrounds. In one month's time the Cloverdale Rodeo will be here and there will be plenty of out of town guests looking for a place to stay, but they'll have to look a little farther.

When I was growing up there was a seedy looking motor inn on Highway 10, roughly across from Cloverdale Elementary. It eventually closed down and became 10 or 12 apartments for lower income people. It was still seedy and run down. About 6 or 7 years ago it was bulldozed down and businesses built on the site. Namely Tim Horton's and Lordco.

The Clover Inn on 176th Street has been there since I was a kid. I lived on 182 Street and at night I looked out my living room window and could see the pink glow fluorescent lighting from the Clover Inn's roof. Back then there was a nice restaurant and our family ate out there occasionally. There was also a bar and the entrance on 57 Avenue had two doorways. One said "gentlemen" and the other door said "ladies and escorts". On the second floor were hotel rooms. I've never been inside any of the rooms. By the 80's residents of the Clover Inn were government assisted people, usually handicapped in some manner. Gone was the fancy family restaurant replaced with a restauarant with burger and sandwich fare and oddly enough, a salad bar. Remember those were popular in the 80's?

Today the Clover Inn has become a stripper bar frequented mostly by bikers and racetrack employees. The rooms are still there, and oddly enough I hear they are quite expensive, though one doesn't get what they pay for. For the same money, or less, nicer rooms with better amenities can be found at just about every other hotel in Surrey and Langley.

So scratch the Clover Inn from a place to stay on a family vacation.

The Clydesdale Inn opened around 1980 on Highway 10 near 176 Street. When it opened it was a neat looking Victorian style building. We ate dinner once at the restaurant, which was a fancy high priced affair. I remember the dining room being rather dark, difficult to read the menus. Had to borrow a candle from the adjacent table. They had a few rooms, maybe 6 or 8 hotel rooms.

The fancy high priced restaurant didn't last long and in recent years the Clydesdale Inn has become a pub with typical pub fare food and a cold beer and wine store. The hotel still has rooms to rent but the clientele are of a dubious nature.

So to answer the question about where to stay in Cloverdale, the only good answer is slightly out of town.