The Sycamore Guest House

Beautiful house in York, slightly outside the center but less than a 10-minute walk from York Minster (cathedral). Retro and vintage style house. Typical English. Fantastic breakfast, possibility of parking in front of the house. Spiros, the host, besides being very nice, is ready and welcoming to the max.

Charming bed and breakfast in Victorian style. Rooms are small but comfortable. Very quiet location. Breakfast custom cooked for you, friendly host.

Ok, so I read a few reviews on this place and the booking.com score was really decent so we booked a 2 night stay. First and foremost if you read my reviews they are just honest and I try to inform folks correctly what they are getting in full. So the reviews you read saying the picture of the front are misleading are true!! They are (I’ll attach some pics) full disclosure, this is costing us £160 per night which is a big chunk of change!! The guy that greets you seems like a nice man, he is very forward but that’s ok by me….seems a very nice gent to me so the reviews that say he is lovely are true…he is! We are staying in room 1 and I’ll be honest off the bat, it’s not worth £160 a night!!! Not in a million years! The room itself is terribly worn! Paper coming off the walls, and it’s just not the cleanest to be honest! The ceiling is filthy!! The en-suite is poorly fitted and if you are let’s say of a larger variety you’ll struggle to go to the loo in room 1! The shower doesn’t look great but I’ll comment on that tomorrow when I’ve used it but the en-suite is a solid 2/10 for me so far! I’ll add in they have used wall tiles on the floor which get very slippy so be aware! There’s curtains attached to a wall behibd the bed which are I guess decorative but in truth they just smell a bit musty! The room is way too over complicated….2 chairs, random pictures and ornaments that are just dust collectors….i never understand rooms like these where the owners add in loads of bits and bobs which just collect dust! The room would benefit from a paint job and removing the wallpaper and just paint them. The tv is around 15-20” maybe which isn’t great…again I’ll add pictures. Just overall for the money paid its poor value, if I’d paid £80 a night I’d still be disappointed! Location wise it’s ok, around a 10 minute walk into town at worst but for an extra few £ I’d certainly recommend just staying in a hotel bang in the centre, b&bs are always a gamble in fairness. I’ll add in tomorrow about shower/bed and breakfast though I will say the bed in room 1 has a hell of a dip in from the get go…but hey, I’m payin so I’m stayin and I’ve been surprised by an old bed before so fingers crossed. Quick add in, if your a light sleeper (which I’m not) this place creaks like crazy!!! I can now update on the shower….not great It’s taken about 5 minutes to warm up, it’s tight and just not great….usable but not great! The bed wasn’t brilliant…not the worst but not brilliant! We have both slept really poorly! I am thanking god we only had a 2 nighter booked! We will simply have to suck it up for another night…earplugs at the ready! So breakfast is ok, it’s very snug room…which I like personally but I’m a social person! When I say snug, you may as well be on the same table! but again it’s very worn. The breakfast is small but it’s enough and the guy running the joint is genuinely a really nice old boy, frankly if I scored b&bs purely on how nice an owner was this would get top marks! Sadly all in all I have to ask my questions How was the bed?- not great had much better, had worse (the wife hates it) 4/10 Breakfast? Again ok, same as the bed for me! (The wife again isn’t impressed) 6/10 Would I stay again? Sadly not, it’s not just the money either, from a VFM point of view it’s really poor but even if this was £60-70 a night I’d honestly still not stay again…though in fairness I’d suggest it’d be the fair money for this place so VFM is sadly 0/10. We honestly can’t wait to get home (6.34am) and get into our own bed, we’ve been up all night on and off due to the noise from above! Breakfast is served 8.30-9.15 apparently (which is also not great but what we was told on arrival) if we could get some coffee and toast now I’d be on my way! Sadly our least favourite stay of 2025….and no way it’s getting beaten now! I’ll also add just to be fair once more that the host is a nice bloke and does his best….he is the only reason I scored it a 2!!