I stayed at the Red Lion for six nights. I had a very nice double room, with everything you could need, but, sadly, it was on the road side, which meant that having the window open for any length of time meant fumes from the traffic coming in. I was just grateful it wasn’t in summer when the weather is warmer, and you need some fresh air. I found the bed a bit too firm for my liking, but that’s down to personal choice of course.The staff were all really lovely – willing and helpful, and couldn’t do enough for me. The hotel itself is a lovely old building, and only five minutes from the shops, and five minutes by taxi or car from the railway station.
Sadly, I do need to write some negative remarks. This is the second time this year that I have stayed in a hotel in the UK where the cleaning isn’t done thoroughly enough. On first glance, the room itself is fine, as is the bathroom….. BUT! As you can see from the photo, the toilet roll holder hadn’t been dusted for weeks – I stroked my finger along the top, and that’s where you can see the bits of dust built up. Also, why can cleaners not see the ridges in places like baths and doors? The ridges at the bottom of the bath obviously hadn’t been done properly for months. All it would take is a wet cloth to clean things properly. I would expect a hotel that charges the amount it does to clean to a very high standard.
There were a couple of mistakes with my room service orders. One day, my lunch was half an hour late, and when eventually it did arrive, they’d used the wrong bread. I was so hungry at that point that I didn’t have the heart to tell them! However, they did give me a discount for another meal to make up for it. Another lunchtime sandwich had the wrong ingredients, and that had to be sent back, and replaced. Simple errors that shouldn't have been made.
The food in general was very good, but don’t expect the restaurant meals to be very big! As you can see from the picture, the pork that I had was sadly lacking in vegetables – just a few leaves of spinach hiding underneath. I was told you can order extra vegetables, but there is no mention of it under Side Orders on the menu. Unfortunately, the green beans I ordered after that were so hard, they must have been dunked in hot water, and brought out straight away. I could hardly cut them, let alone eat them! Although the food at breakfast was cooked well, I did find that the scrambled eggs were only ever luke warm, despite only adding them to my plate after I had chosen everything else.
I found the wifi very good, but the tv picture kept breaking up for some reason. The shower was most impractical as it was fixed high on the wall. How are you meant to wash your underarms and ‘bits’?!
Despite the negative points, I did enjoy my stay here, and WOULD recommend it – with reservations. Do make sure you visit the Queen Elizabeth Gardens when you’re there – they are beautiful! Also The Maltings shopping area is very picturesque, and worth a visit. less