Best Western Priory Hotel

The hotel itself is nice and most of the staff are very welcoming however the things that matter were very different. A lovely greeting from a very helpful smiley reception staff, I booked my table in the restaurant for my evening meal and off I wandered to find my room. This was outside the main hotel in a row of motel looking rooms. First impressions were, its clean and looks very comfortable for my 1 night stay. I made myself a coffee and sat down at the desk to work on the laptop. All good so far. I arrived at the restaurant for my evening meal, not a lot of choice and quite expensive. I opted for suffolk sausage with mash and red onion gravy, it arrived quite quickly 3 sausage a spoon of mash and a very small pot of gravy. I was expecting there to be some veg for the £15:00. A pint of beer at £4:10 was more than I was expecting too. I went to the Tollgate just over the road for a pint of Good beer at £3:35 much more to my liking, I had a look at their menu and wished I had eaten there. Back to the room to get some sleep, I have a busy day tomorrow. I put on the TV, I like a bit of background noise whilst I am nodding and lay on the bed. I have never lay on a bed so hard, it was like lying on a board. I even pulled the sheet back to check it was the mattress, unfortunately it was. Ok I have got to get some sleep so put up with it and get my head down, on two pillows that were nearly as hard as the mattress. I was woken early next morning with the dog barking in the room next door, GREAT. Breakfast was ok but small. If you want to stay at a hotel with a hard bed and pillows, this is the hotel for you. If you want to stay at a hotel a get woken early by a barking dog, this is the hotel for you. If you want to pay over the odds for food and beer, this is the hotel for you. I dont. less

We booked in June, for a 2night dinner on the first night, bed & breakfast offer. We duly arrived on the 10th September, together with 2 other couples. The place is dated, we were given rooms 12,14 & 15, all chalet style. They were furnished very 70's, chipped paintwork all over & the bathroom in 15, the wooden side didn't reach the floor. The receptionist, Kelsey, was not at all friendly & was very abrupt. The service in the dining room at breakfast was below standard. The men ordered porridge & cooked breakfasts, the cooked food came first, followed immediately by the porridge! The waitress seemed surprised that we had expected the porridge first! They had no gluten free or white bread available, & this was at 8am!! We love dogs, but, we don't want to be woken by a dog barking at 6.45am in the room next door but one! The evening dinner was ok for 4 of us, but oh dear, the steaks were inedible, & had to be returned. Would we go go again...NEVER. less

Our twin bedded room was fine, with comfortable beds and plenty of tea making bits and bobs. Let down by an unemptied bin in the bathroom, and a shower that lacked any power - the pump appeared to be not working. We chose to forego breakfast as we considered it overpriced for a 3 star hotel, so can't comment, and rating doesn't take include that. less

The location of the hotel is just outside the town. It is just off a fairly busy road but the hotel is walled so you don't hear traffic or have any concerns if you have children. Just a Shirt gravel drive to the main entrance. Quite a grand welcome to this old house. (There are a couple of entrances but reception can be reached from both ways). There are 3 options for room locations, the main house (where I stayed, which has been sympathetically renovated keeping the character with oak beams), courtyard rooms (had a sneak peak, look very nice with all the facilities you need), the. You have the garden rooms, didn't get to see these but if they are anything like the other rooms they will be lovely. Reception is small offering hot coffee and take away cups. It was quick and easy to check in and if you need anything extra, it was sorted immediately. The room facilities are good, kettle, iron, ironing board, hairdryer, everything you would expect. The shower took a little while to warm up but once it's ready, it was lovely. Nice, clean and tidy. The hotel offers breakfast. Continental breakfast is available, small selection of pastries, cereals fruit etc. but nice all the same. You can also order a hot breakfast at no extra charge (although there are some extras that incur a charge smoked salmon etc.). All the staff we met were friendly and helpful. Lovely hotel, definitely stay again. less

Good food ,,good servise very friendly Evening meal a good corsice each night We had our own seating each day in the same room for meals We were a group visiting gardening for 4 days Ssept 1st to 4 th 2017 less