The Vicarage

I had booked this hotel as I was going to a wedding near by and was meeting some friends at the hotel. When I got there, there were hardly any staff around. I spoke to the bar man who asked me if I could check in after the wedding as they were very busy and had an event to set up for. I left my bags in a friends room whilst we were at the wedding and would check in upon my return (I did request early check in). When we came back from the wedding I went to check in and the night porter said there had been an issue with the system. Whilst my name and booking was clearly there, no room had been allocated and there were no rooms available (there was one that was offline but they couldn't get into it and couldn't guarantee someone else hadn't been given it)- totally unacceptable! The night porter tried and failed to get hold of the manager to resolve this, however by this point it was past 1am in the morning. I was asked whether I could drive as they have a sister hotel... I did not have a car and would have been unfit to drive anyway. I was offered a drink in the bar whilst he tried to resolve this. My friends in the end said that I could sleep in their twin room, meaning one of us had to sleep on the floor as there were 3 of us. There were no z- beds left, just given some filthy duvets to sleep on. There has been no apology at all apart from the night porter and there were no staff around this morning to speak to. The whole stay was an absolute shambles and I wouldn't recommend the stay to anyone, unless you wish to be stranded without a room. If I had been staying there by myself I would have been extremely vulnerable as a lone female traveller.

Very disappointing stay at the vicarage, mainly due to lack of staff even though they were friendly and helpful. Rooms very out of date, room 7 No running water from tap in sink bed & pillows awful. Decor very out of date, carpet felt very unclean iron burn mark on floor in room 6 walls very thin could hear the man coughing next room to ours, dogs barking generally noisy. I’ve seen better looking morgues! Breakfast service was slow not much choice on buffet, but menu was decent Could have used local produce, not great quality had to ask for teabags as none on the buffet making more work the staff. Definitely not worth £152 a night (which does not even include breakfast) we couldn’t wait to leave

We have made a formal complaint for a refund of our stay - like the last few reviews here…it’s so disappointing. The Hotel is now in receivership - so it’s running on a shoestring but still more than happy to take money from you and deliver the lowest level of service. The management could not care less and we have had not acknowledgement of our emails or complaint. I will continue to contact them as I feel like we are being ignored. On entering our room, I could clearly see that it was in need of updating and repair. It had been cleaned on a very basic level. On closer inspection it had visible dust and dirt on surfaces. The TV remote was filthy and around the bathroom door and common areas were very unclean with dirt / fingerprint marks. The carpet / skirting boards were also covered in debris, dust and marks. I also noticed the net curtains were unclean with mildew and some damp stains and the bin in the bathroom was rusty and old. Not sure what to make of it this time - very disappointing. I then took it upon myself to clean these common areas with wipes and anti-bacterial gel to be safe. My intention was to report this to reception however it wasn’t manned whenever we passed by and I hoped to speak to someone about this issue at some point. Our evening was also extremely disappointing…. We had drinks in the pub and were served by a young male bartender who was also very unwelcoming and made little eye contact or conversation. We ordered a light bite with our drinks which arrived on time, later ordering food at 7.30pm. This didn’t arrive until near 9pm. Our order was a butternut squash salad and fish and chips. All other guests were still waiting for food and we were told by staff that this was due to a new chef who was agency staff. There was a casual apology but no offer of anything to make up for the waiting time. I did ask for a complimentary drink which was honoured however the butternut squash when it finally arrived was cold. I had mentioned this and the chef made another one but by the time that came I was so hungry I had had to eat the cold one! This dish was deducted from our bill but we’d had a very underwhelming experience. Some people requested their money back however we still paid for what was disappointing food and service to say the least. Again, breakfast was much of the same. My husband's breakfast was missing some items and had to raise this with staff and then wait until it was ready. We again experienced mediocre food and slow service with staff looking stressed and overwhelmed.