Red Lion

Best part about his hotel is the location. A short walk to the centre of town in Salisbury, and just as short walk to the Cathedral. A short drive to Stonehenge. There is very limited parking at this period hotel that is an eclectic maze of buildings bodged onto each other, but a council lot is right next door and they can offer 24 hour punch cards to park there, which worked well. When navigating to your room, pay close attention to the subtle notice cards wth small font directing you to the rooms. Don’t separate from your party becasue you may never find them again in the labyrinth. Our room faced the busy street, there is no AC, and we were there during a heatwave, so we had the choice to baking with closed windows all night, or putting up with significant street noise roaring past the open windows. Only way to get any airflow was to open the door onto the hall, as well as the windows. The bed wasn’t great, but we were only there for one night, so we survived.

Tge hotel is centrally placed close to shops etc. The downside of tgat is that coaches can't pick up outside. It has a lovely courtyard with plenty of tables and shade and was handy for the bar, udeal for our group to gather before meals. It's an old building, which inevitably means various changes of level. When I arrived that was a bit of a problem. Struggling to find our room with 2 suitcases and a rucksack a member of staff did give me directions, but holding the door open for me or warning ne about the 4 steps down a couple of feet geyond the door would have helped more. The hotel was clearly understaffed with reception staff filling in to serve meals and our room was serviced only once in a four day stay and that missed the fact that we were down to our last toilet roll. It also meant regular visits to receptipn to replenish stocks of tea and milk. We were with a group so we're given no choice about evening menu (except vegetarian or gluten free) and on at least one evening a lot of main courses were untouched or half eaten. A Red Pepper risotto, not as Primo Piatto but the main! Overall a mixed experience.

Honestly terrible. We stayed one night. We were assigned a room on the road side and the traffic noise was unrelenting. The room was grubby, pillows were like little cement blocks, sheets didn’t fit the bed and the mattress felt original to when the inn was built in the 1400’s. No amenities in tbe room at all. Not even a small shampoo or conditioner. The breakfast was passable. Staff were very nice.