Nine eclectic rooms with original hardwood floors and fourteen-foot ceilings over Foster's Inn Restaurant and Lounge on Downie Street, the closest hotel bed in Stratford to the Avon and Studio theatres.
"Nine rooms over a serious steakhouse on Downie Street, the closest bed to the Avon and Studio theatres. The pre-show drink is at home, and the post-show one is the same."
Foster's Inn sits on Downie Street, one block south of Ontario and a hundred metres from the Avon Theatre stage door, in a red-brick three-storey commercial building with a wide bay window onto the street. The property has operated as a restaurant-with-rooms since the late 1990s under the same family ownership, with the ground floor housing Foster's Inn Restaurant and Lounge (a long-standing local steakhouse) and the upper floors holding nine guest rooms reached by an interior staircase. It is the closest hotel bed in Stratford to the Avon and Studio theatres, which is the reason it features on every Festival weekend shortlist.
The nine rooms are arranged across the second and third floors. The footprints vary, the building was not laid out as a hotel originally, so categories range from compact queens with bay windows over Downie Street to larger king rooms with sitting nooks at the back of the building. Every room has original hardwood floors, fourteen-foot ceilings, ensuite bathrooms, TVs, free Wi-Fi, and minifridges; several have pull-out sofas for an additional guest, and the largest are properly comfortable for two adults plus a child. The decor is eclectic rather than designed, with each room treated as its own composition rather than as part of a single look; the result is more personal and less corporate than the chains and reads as a small B&B with restaurant service.
Foster's Inn Restaurant is the operating heart of the property. The ground-floor steakhouse runs dinner six nights a week through Festival season and lunch on theatre matinee days, with a properly serious menu (Ontario AAA beef as the headline, a smart fish-and-pasta supporting card, and a wine list that runs well beyond the local default). The bar adjoins the dining room and handles drinks before and after the show; this is the property's quiet selling point, the staircase from your room to the bar is sixty seconds. Breakfast for hotel guests is served in the same dining room from 8:00 to 10:00 AM and is included in the room rate.
The location is the property's permanent advantage. From the front door, the Avon Theatre stage door is 90 metres, the Studio Theatre is 250 metres, and the Festival Theatre is a fifteen-minute walk along the river. Every restaurant on Ontario Street and every shop in downtown Stratford is inside seven minutes. Service is informal and properly attentive (the same front-of-house team has worked Foster's for years), the room product is comfortable rather than designed, and the operating logic is simple: stay where you eat, eat where you stay, and walk to the show.
For an Avon-Theatre weekend with a serious dinner attached, Foster's is the operating answer. Book the larger king room with the sitting nook for a milestone, take the Avon matinee on Saturday, and book the property's own steakhouse for the evening; the pre-show drink at the bar is the cleanest in town because the staircase home is at the back.
For a solo Festival trip on a more modest budget than The Bruce, Foster's is the move. The bar handles solo diners well at the counter, the room product is comfortable and quiet, and the Avon-Theatre proximity removes the need for a car for the entire weekend. The continental breakfast is properly considered and the Saturday-morning farmers market is three blocks away.
111 Downie Street
Stratford, ON N5A 1X2
Canada
90 metres to the Avon Theatre stage door; 250 metres to the Studio Theatre; 15 minutes along the river to the Festival Theatre
9 rooms across two upper floors
Compact queens from CAD 215/night
King rooms from CAD 285/night
Largest king with sitting area from CAD 365/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Restaurant-with-rooms operation; same family ownership since 1990s
Restaurant closed Mondays through low season
Foster's Inn Steakhouse and Lounge on ground floor
Breakfast included in the room rate
Original hardwood floors and fourteen-foot ceilings
Closest hotel bed in Stratford to the Avon Theatre
Pull-out sofas in larger rooms for additional guests
Complimentary WiFi; municipal parking nearby
From CAD 215/night, breakfast included. Foster's books four to five months ahead for Festival peak weekends; the larger king rooms release first and pre-show dinner reservations downstairs should be made at the same time.
Compare Room Rates →Twenty-five rooms by the Avon River, the only proper spa in town, the closest top-tier hotel to the Festival Theatre.
Three heritage buildings on Brunswick Street, salt-water pool, the most considered breakfast in town.
Fourteen rooms over the Mercer Kitchen and Beer Hall, square on Ontario Street.
Twelve rooms in an 1875 Victorian on a quiet side street, three minutes to the Avon Theatre.
A ranked shortlist, a special offer worth booking, and the overpriced stay to skip. Straight from the editors.