We stayed here with friends who had booked this hotel, and unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to read the reviews beforehand. If we had booked it ourselves, we would not have been happy staying here and, quite honestly, would not have stayed for even one night.
We were attending an event nearby, and our party booked three rooms. My partner and I stayed in Room 7. Our friends had apparently been told that this was the biggest and nicest room, which I find very hard to believe. Yes, it was big, but that was about the only positive thing I can say.
The room was absolutely disgusting. It was very dirty, with outdated furniture and which was unclean, stained and sticky. There was extremely poor painting and decorating, stained carpets, and an overall appearance that was outdated and neglected. It also smelt strongly of dust, cigarettes and old furniture. It looked like it had been furnished entirely out of a house clearance
The bathroom looked modern, but the cleanliness was awful. The bath was filthy and, had what appeared to be pubic hair in it. Finding this immediately made us question the overall cleanliness of the room and whether anything had actually been properly cleaned. We decided not to use the shower at all during the duration of our stay as there was absolutely no way we were going to shower in the condition it was in. Frankly would have felt dirtier coming out than going in. Paying to stay somewhere and having to compromise on using the shower is completely unacceptable.
The toilet itself was very clean and usable, which was one of the very few positives.
I was extremely unimpressed and, honestly, quite distressed when we arrived and saw the condition of the room. You expect a hotel room to be clean and hygienic at the very least, and I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation. This room fell well below what I would consider an acceptable standard.
My partner and I reluctantly agreed to stay for the night because we were only there for 24 hours, for most of which we were going to be out of the room, and were already due to check into another hotel the following day. One positive was that the location was convenient for our event. We were essentially only using the room to sleep, and we also didn’t want to disappoint or disrupt our friends, who seemed happy with their rooms. Had it just been the two of us, there is absolutely no way we would have stayed. We would have asked to leave and found somewhere else.
We were so uncomfortable that we slept fully clothed, with the hoods of our jumpers up, because we didn’t feel comfortable sleeping directly on the sheets after seeing the state of the bath and the rest of the room. Frankly, we did not feel confident that the bedding had definitely been properly cleaned. Having to sleep in a hotel room feeling like that is completely unacceptable.
The mattress was also extremely uncomfortable, worn out and dipped in the middle and we didn’t have a good night's sleep. The curtains were very thin, allowing a lot of light and sound through early in the morning, which certainly didn't help.
The loud music from the pub didn’t impact us much in the evening as we were attending an event and returned at 1am as the pub was closing. However, you can hear the music continuously throughout the day until the early hours of the morning when you are in the room, and it is very loud, almost as though you are sitting in the pub itself. I would absolutely not recommend staying here if you want to spend any time in your room or have a peaceful night's sleep.
We didn’t go into the pub itself, as our friends handled the check-in, but from what we saw walking past, it did seem like a very nice atmosphere.
Ultimately, for the relatively small saving compared with chain hotels such as Travelodge or Holiday Inn down the road, this is a huge compromise in terms of hygiene, comfort and overall standard. In my opinion, saving a small amount of money is simply not worth staying somewhere in this condition. I would not stay here again. In fact, I regret agreeing to stay here in the first place. If I had known what the room would be like beforehand, I would never have agreed to the booking being made to stay here.
The complementary biscuits were a nice surprise, and we were pleasantly impressed with the mini fridge, which is a feature many budget hotels don’t have. My friend also mentioned there was a communal kitchen on another floor. However, after seeing the state of the bathroom, I was put off using the kettle, fridge or any other facilities.
