The County Hotel, Carlisle — Hotel in Carlisle

I rarely stay in non chain hotels, and this place fully exemplifies why.|Before I continue, I will state how good the staff were. All 4 we spoke to were amazingly polite, helpful, and friendly. |The room was massive and had 3 single beds (booked a twin, but rather this than a double!), TV was working and in a decent location for watching when we got in later. Tea/ coffee facilities were good, plenty of sachets, milk etc. Beds were comfortable if a bit narrow, bedding was clean, pillows were an odd combination of hard and soft. It was as if they were filled with wet sand, but they were comfortable to sleep on.|There was a musty smell in the room, but it was clean.|The bathroom however was grim. Or at least the floor was. A lot of places have dust in the corners or round the Base of door frames, but it was clear that the floor has not been cleaned properly in a long time.|Storage was good if you need it.|WiFi also good.|Breakfast OK, although you have to get staff to poor your coffee! Even though it's a buffet breakfast.|The complaints I've read about staff attitudes I feel are probably a side effect of the attitude of the owners, because if it was my business, I'd be concerned about the condition of the place. Which is a shame, because it has potential to be a really nice hotel.|In general, the whole place needs a refurbishment, but I paid £53.22 for 2 people including breakfast. So I feel that it's very much a case of you get what you pay for.|Can't say I'd stay again by choice, but the location is good (train station and citadel is literally across the road, Carlisle Utd 12 mins walk, castle and cathedral also close) and as I said the staff met my expectations.|I'm guessing it's target demographic is lads and lasses on nights out, football fans and from what we saw people being put up by their employers.|Definitely not a good choice if you're using Carlisle as a Base with the family to visit the lakes and Southern Scotland.|2 out of 5 for cost...

The moment we arived we notised how dated and not wel kept the place looked but we were willing to overlook that. There was a bath and a bed, al we would need, so we thought. We heared the cracling of the floors from both side as upstairs neighbours, that wasn't so bad yet, I could live with that. When I wanted to sleep I notised that the windows werent fully closed. This is beceause the windows are old and single glazed, witch cauzed the window frame to bend causing gab inbetween the upper and the boddom window where sound gets true.  We woke up by a drunk man singing loudly on the streed but thats not the hotels folt. Only te fact that we heared him a bit to well. The tv than jumped on 10 minutes later out of nowhere. Keep in mind that this happend @ 5 am in the morning. 10 minutes later it happend again so I unplugged it. This is realy not okey in my book. The next day it was a fridzy night and as this is a naighbourhood with quite some pubs and stuff it was verry loud in yhe evening. My mom went to ask if we vould maybe chakge rooms but the hotel was fully booked. In the morning once again I woke up becezuse of drunk people, this time a couple that were arguing verry loudly and some friends who were alsow drunk trying to handle the situation. This was @4 am so yeah agaik they realy keed to fix there windows. So far the staff has been oke. After this first night I already was not wanting to stay there anny more, but as we already payed we dicided to stay. I hope the staff atleased gets payed well  cause its not there fold they work in a this hotel. I normaly write nice revieuws but this place had me infuriated. Only book this if there's no other option, its way to expensive for what you get. (Sorry for anny typo's non...

A charming creeky and quirky building full of history. However: Check in was an absolute joke. Booking couldnt be found. I was "made" to find my electronic booking confirmation while a queue built up behind me. Still couldnt be found on their systems. I stood WAITING for 40 minutes at the reception desk.... WAITING WAITING WAITING.... After a 4hr drive i didnt need the evel of incompetence. System generated or otherwise. I COULD have been given a key with an apology and a "we will sort it out for you but in the meantime please check in to the room".... but no. I had to stand there and WAIT... Eventually got my room. Nice as it was it was directly on the main road. Had to swop as i am a light sleeper. I was then given what can only be described as a cupboard on the top floor and STILL facing the front. I should have realised when i saw earplugs on the pillow.... Second room was extremely poor quality and stuck in the 80s. Stains on the carpet. Damaged furniture and the bathrom was like a 1970s school toilet. No AC. Window barely openable. Managed some sleep due to street noise.

Breakfast. Self serve buffet style. Bizarre setup for hot drinks. Queue up cafereria style to hand over hour mug for a machine dispensed drink. Totally unimpressive. Food quality was ok. Marmalade and jam simply served in a "communal" bowl. Err no thanks. Cheap carton OJ and yoghurts. No thanks.

Staff were very nice though. Best feature of the place.

One night was more...