The Kings Arms

The location was good with good restaurants near by. The room was neat and clean, but was so compact. The breakfast was nice, but there wasn't much option, but good for the price.

This establishment is truly shocking. The staff are rude, offensive and disrespectful. We were attending a family event in a private function room but met in the bar and bought drinks before heading up to our party. We had the misfortune to be served by teenagers who clearly had had no training in customer service or indeed manners. In our family group of around 20 people we had a couple of 18-20 year olds (who frankly appeared older than the ‘staff’) and whilst we were catching up in the bar before heading upstairs to the private function those ‘staff’ aggressively confronted our family group asking for ID. As we were attending a family party and it had not occurred to us that ID would be required. And although they were old enough to enjoy their drinks we accepted that (however bizarre it seemed) they would not drink their glasses of wine. However I would not be bothering to write this had the ‘staff’ not continued to bother us throughout the evening. Frankly the wine on offer was so abysmal that it really was no hardship to drink water or soft drinks anyway. This is truly an awful establishment and perhaps those in charge should think about employing adults who have some ability to exercise some judgment rather than teenagers who are simply rude and offensive. Avoid if possible…

avoid this place. I went there with my partner and our children to have an evening meal. We sat down in the bar's dining area and were completely ignored (probably due to the customers and bar staff watching the football). After 15 minutes of being ignored we duly left the premises. (that's over £100.00 we would have spend). Two weeks later I got a parking fine for £100.00. I contested and went in to see the manageress who did nothing about it. Would not go near this place again. An absolute disgrace to the area I grew up in.

Stayed one night in a superior double and i cannot fault the cleanliness and facilities of the room. I was Warned that the bar stayed open to early hours and i didnt hear anything when in my room. The breakfast was ordered the night before and was excellent. All staff happy to help and polite.

We went to 20 at The Kings today for their carvery, for a 60th birthday. We used to come regularly a few years back so we had high hopes, but unfortunately we were disappointed. We booked here because of the larger rooms they have at the back for larger parties, we were given one of these but the tables had been arranged in 2 rows so we had to rearrange these. I’m sure no family wants to sit as 2 separate groups for a family birthday meal! We had 2 vegans as part of our group, and I had pre booked their meals (in this day and age that shouldn’t be necessary, vegan options should be available!). We reminded staff about the vegan meals, and then had to do so 5 times more before their meals eventually arrived - 45 minutes after first asking. They had ordered a meatless roast and a cauliflower steak, 2 cauliflower steaks arrived, but they were so hungry by this point they just accepted it. We were told that they had 2 new chefs in the kitchen, and the usual ‘excellent’ chef, had taken the day off. On a day when you’ve got more than 150 covers in (so staff told us), surely you make sure you’ve got a good chef in! For the rest of us, the carvery was luke warm and the veg wasn’t the best. The meat was also fatty. And it was painful to watch the chef carve it with the wrong kind of knife! The service was also poor, apart from waiting so long for the vegan meals, it took a long time for someone to take our drink orders, and then no one checked on us for the rest of the meal. It’s a shame as their rooms for larger groups are good, but we won’t be returning.

We booked for two nights here to visit family in Swindon. Booking in -no problem. Courteous staff and good breakfasts. Room OK but very uncomfortable mattress which needs replacing, no support and springs could be heard pinging. Obviously very old. BUT NOW THE BIG PROBLEM- WE DID NOT FEEL SAFE IN STAYING HERE. 1st night at 01-45am, in the corridor outside our room, several residents ( we believe) started arguing, swearing, banging doors and sounded like several males and females were fighting. We did not feel safe to exit our rooms to tell them to keep the noise down. This went on until around 3-15am. We got no sleep at all. 2nd night, the fire alarm went off at midnight. We partly dressed and investigated to see if there was a fire, ready to use the fire escape. On looking in the corridor and down the stairs, there was no sign of anyone around to monitor possible evacuation. I investigated a little further and no sign of any staff or possible fire. We tried phoning the emergency number provided by the hotel, which we were advised to use after the first nights disruption, only to be told to leave a message. Pointless! we needed to know immediately. We again, did not sleep for the rest of the night. The manageress, when we told her about both incidents, really did not give us any explanations or reports as to what had happened, only a guess as to the problems. She inferred it was the only other couple smoking in their room which was the likely cause and no-one answered our call as they were investigating the cause. There was no-one to be seen in the hotel. Could it be staff smoking that had triggered the alarm!!!!! This really is not good enough. We really felt that the two nights stay here had caused us a lot of stress. We will never book this hotel again. WE DID NOT FEEL SAFE IN THIS PLACE. BE WARNED!

The Kings is a traditional style hotel conveniently located in the Old Town surrounded by entertainment venues. It has free parking at the rear. I was warned that it is a late night music venue but I could not hear the music which was still going on when I went to bed. The disco in the main pub attracts a good mixed crowd and plays to all tastes, not just youngsters. The well-kept local real ale helped lubricate the evening.