The Bear Hotel

Fantastic dinner. Amazing food. Staff are so friendly.

Great little place and great price

A nice little hotel with bar and restaurant, decent breakfast , really offering a nice choice of traditional or lite meal. Clean , helpful staff, especially the handyman who made sure i had a fan in my room. Small rooms but comfortable , just a bit too stuffy in the hot weather. All in all a satisfactory pleasant place to stay

As always the staff was very welcoming, friendly & efficient with excellent service from Emma, Mandie, Kate and all the kitchen team too. The food was freshly cooked, tasted absolutely delicious with a great menu choices for everyone with good portions including the smaller options for people with reduced appetites. The venue is beautiful with a good choice of seating areas from the conservatory or the restaurant itself. From full brunches, lunches, afternoon tea or light snacks to a fabulous full dinner choice too. Looking forward to our next visit plus enjoyed the Morris dancing outside the venue today.

A lovely, traditional no-frills hotel that is very reasonably priced. The building being old does come with come with those old-building-quirks such as creaky floors and narrow corridors but all the hotel staff I came across were very welcoming, friendly and helpful. I thought having an old-style room key instead of a keycard which all the modern hotels are doing was actually a very cute touch in keeping things traditional. I stayed in a single room which was very simple but clean and cosy and had an en-suite with a shower, which was all I really needed as I was out most of the day. Breakfast is included with the room where there is self-serve continental breakfast including pastries, fruits, cereals and fruit juice. Hot breakfast is available to order to the table which was absolutely delicious. Breakfast room was very quiet on the couple of mornings I stayed, the room was very nice and overall just a lovely relaxing atmosphere. If you sit by the window, you can just look out on the main square outside which is nice. Again, staff were lovely. I did read other reviews saying it is a little dated. Whilst there are things that could do with being updated such as the bathroom/shower and the room itself could do with a freshen up, I honestly can't really complain for the price. This is a very nice local hotel providing all the basic essentials you need. Overall, a very good value stay.

After booking by mistake through a third party because they have a similar name to an Inn in Oxford I tried to cancel. Staff pretended to be helpful and sent me on a 3 hour run around trying to clarify with the third party. On the third call the owner finally admitted she had already received payment and had no intention of refunding or offering any compensation. Dishonest and rude

Arrived on a very warm Friday evening (32 degrees). Comfortable room on the secnd floor. No lift, stairs only. No air conditioning in the room, although the windows were open. The duvet was winter weight and it was too hot to sleep in the bed, so I lay on top of it. Fortunately I had brought my own portable fan as there was none in the room. Parking in the nearby car park is free after 6pm. The room had an ensuite bathroom with shower, bath and plenty of towels. Only soap provided. Tea and coffee making facilities were in the room. The staff wre friendly and the desk was manned when I departed just after 6am. My room overlooked the high street and having to leave the windows open due to the heat, the room was very noisy, as it was a Friday night and there was a lot of late night revellers. I needed to be up early at 5.30am. There is a Saturday market and there was a lot of clanging of metal poles while the traders unloaded their vans to set up their stalls. The rate I paid was fair value and there was little that could have been done to offset the heat, bearing in mind the Bear is located in an old building. Had it not been a very hot night, the room probably would have been quieter with the windows closed. I would certainly stay again, but preferably during cooler weather!

We booked The Bear as we are attending the Air Show at Fairford and the Bear was very well priced. The lady on the reception was lovely, very helpful. The rooms are clean and tidy. Bathroom was clean. We had a evening meal and it was lovely. It was the best burger I've ever had and the other 3 meals were all very good as well. The staff are all very friendly. The 2 young ladies who were serving were very polite, even though Amber was quizzed about salad leaves unfortunately!!. I have been a chef for 30 years, and have been asked many things by staff members relaying customers requests, but even that one was a new one for me!! But to Ambers credit she came back with a list of the leaves in the salad. That girl is a legend! I know how me, as a chef, would have reacted to a question like that from a customer, but luckily, we couldn't hear what the chef said 🤣🤣 Thanks for a great stay!

Stayed here for a night in June 2024 with my husband and 7 month old baby as visiting family. I had pre-emailed the hotel to let them know we would be bringing our baby as there was not an option when booking online directly with the hotel and they had replied so I was shocked when we got there that we had been allocated a room that was only accessible via stairs which was a pain with the buggy which we had to leave at the top of the stairs. The room had 2 comfortable double beds in it but that was the only plus point. Wallpaper was hanging off the walls held up by sellotape in some parts, the bathroom extremely mouldy in the shower and very tired, with skirting, flooring etc falling off. There was a hole in the carpet in the bedroom which of course was extremely fascinating to a crawling baby! There was a kettle and mugs, tea & coffee but no glasses for water. The room was quite noisy as it was overlooking the outside seating area of the pub which was busy. The location was good, in the centre of Wantage. There is no parking through the hotel but there is a carpark just across the road which cost us £6 to park all day Saturday from arrival and was free on Sunday although the carpark was extremely busy. The breakfast included is nice, you can have a hot breakfast to order and then there is toast, cereal, and some pastries to help yourself as well as juice and water. Overall the location was perfect for us but for the price paid I would expect a better quality of room.