The Bell at Hampton Poyle — Hotel in Cherwell District

All looked great, lovely place, big room, all clean, was very happy, let down a little by some small issues: TV in the room didn't have power 3 of the 4 ceiling lightbulbs weren't working Neither bedside light worked but flickered on and off if you flicked a wall switch on and off quick enough Some painted wallpaper was ripped off the wall on the bathroom by the toilet roll holder, which I don't really care about, but did see in someone else's post, so would have thought it would have been rectified by now

We reported the electrical issues before going out for the evening but nothing had changed when we got back which made it a bit inconvenient only having 2 lamps the other side of the room and no TV.

Went down for breakfast the following morning to find all other guests still waiting to be served as only 1 staff member was available. This wasn't 1 staff member in the kitchen, this was 1 staff member in the whole venue, so he was rushed off his feet having to cook for upwards of 15 people while also checking guests out.

I get that things go wrong, and I hate leaving negative reviews, but having working lighting and TV are table stakes for a hotel and that should have been checked, or we should at least have been notified when we checked in.

The missing chef the following morning was I'm sure unavoidable but even so, only having 1 other person there seems a little light.

I'm not marking the score down on the basis that the problems we had are temporary and the staffing issue probably a one off, and we would probably stay again given the room was generally lovely, the location is far away from everything to be secluded, but close enough to be convenient, so hope action is taken to fix these...

Where exactly do I start? I would have given zero stars if possible but as myself and husband have been going there so regularly (every lunchtime and more) for so long I can hardly do that as we wouldn’t have done so if the place was dreadful. But, dreadful it is now and we will never be going back! Let me start by saying I am not the only person to feel dissatisfied with this hotel/bar/restaurant and yet not one reply 🤔 What does that say in itself? We went there for lunch last Sunday as we had not been for a while due to it going downhill but felt it was only fair to give it another chance. However, we wish we didn’t. We started with a couple of drinks and decided to stay for lunch as they were unusually quiet for a Sunday, which I suspect is the case most of the time now. My husband had roast and I chose the ‘posh’ prawn cocktail with sweet potato fries. Starting with mine, I am not quite sure why they describe it as posh when it was anything but! A thin greyed strip of salmon which should have been in the bin was placed on top of a regular prawn cocktail only the shrimps were smaller and harder. The fries were not cooked through and this I could tell just by looking at them, they were anemic! My wine was warm, it was white wine, so all in all I was disappointed and knew there was no way I was either eating or paying for this disgrace of a meal. My husbands roast was expensive and this would not have mattered had it been worth it, but seriously I could fly to Spain and get a better roast for the same money! If you want to have a better experience than the one I’m describing, do yourself a favour and...

Absolutely HORRENDOUS! Do not go here! We booked for 1:30pm, when we arrived there was a booking of 5 people ahead of us, their booking confirmation looked the same as ours however the manager told them their booking was not on the system, he then proceeded to tell them it was ‘not his problem’, I’ve never ever ever been to an establishment where people have been treated in this way, absolutely disgusting, the group left and we were next to be seated. Luckily a young waiter sat us at our table and organised menu’s and drinks for us, having ordered we began to relax although still quite shell shocked from what had happen with the booking before us.

There were 3 of us on our table and we only ordered main meals, we waited 1hr45mins before asking how long it would be, we were told it would only be another 5mins, we waited the 5minutes and then left, honestly just such a despicable experience.

If the manager knew there would not be enough staff to manage a full restaurant then they should have cancelled bookings in advance, it seemed as though there was enough space for the family before us but clearly it was easier for the manager to be rude and not honour their booking than to deal with another table.

I’m absolutely outraged, never have I ever been to a place so poorly run, I felt awful for the waiting staff having to deal with complaints when really it is down to exceptionally poor...