Stratton House — Restaurant in England

I had the misfortune to stay here this week for 4 nights for work. I am expecting to work in the area for the next 6 - 12 months and this was my first trip. I will not stay here again. ||I checked in at 8.30pm on the Sunday evening. There was a gentleman (I assume the manager or owner) talking with the young lad checking me in complaining there were still 2 guests to check in that night and if they hadn't done so by 9 o'clock he wouldn't be happy. He also said he would be ringing them to hurry them along. This should have been my warning for how they view their customers. It was insisted I pay on check in - even though my employer agreed with the hotel they would settle the bill - requested an invoice and was refused, being told I could have one on check out. I requested an invoice on check out, the lady doing breakfasts on the Thu morning was unable to provide this as she was too busy dealing with a full house for breakfast. I followed this up with an email and 2 phone calls and have still not received an invoice, despite asking on 5 separate occasions. I will just have to download my bank statement and submit that with my expenses. ||Where to begin with the rooms? The bar and breakfast area is nice and inviting. The rooms are the polar opposite. When you walk upstairs from reception the carpet and walls look old and dirty. This continues in the bedrooms. I had blinds which were broken, curtains which kept very little light out, and window frames which hadn't seen a bit of paint for many a years, flaking and dirty. The bathroom was old with dirty marks on the tiles and no grouting/sealant around the bath and shower. The bath and shower taps are an ancient old mixer affair which made it almost impossible to control the temperature of the water - much the same as the radiator in the bathroom which was on full heat for my first 2 nights and couldn't be turned off. The wash hand basin was the smallest in the kingdom, good luck having a shave in that.||In summary, very good breakfast and the 2 ladies serving were pleasant. Beyond that, awful dated and dirty rooms and pretty indifferent staff on reception. This place needs to spend money on the rooms. I can't imagine why anyone with a choice would stay here a second time. Stay somewhere else if you want a clean bed/bathroom and warm shower. That shouldn't be too much to ask for in this...

I wish I had read the Tripadvisor reviews before I booked a suite (room 34). The gist I picked up from the reviews after we left was that the rooms were dire but the food was great, which was our experience. We were shown up to our "suite" which was at the top of the building. I had specifically asked that we had a walk in shower as we are elderly. There was a separate toilet in a small cubby hole with a sliding door but no wash hand basin. Next to it was the "bathroom" which had a bath, with a hand held shower fitting but no shower curtain because you could not stand up due to the sloping ceiling! I said that this was not acceptable, and a man with a beard who I believe was the manager went out of his way to find us an alternative room, which he did after a loing wait, so a plus point to him. The room we were allocated (room 32) was adequate in that it had a small walk-in shower, although you had to move around to get wet as the shower was so inadequate. The bed, which was supposed to be a double, was just a 4'6" bed with the hardest, most uncomfortable mattress i have ever tried to sleep on. It was a good thing we took our own pillows because the ones provided were old, flat and hard. After a very poor night we went down to breakfast, which was generous and well cooked. I asked for some marmalade for the toast only to be told that they did not do marmalade!!! That would not happen even at Fawlty Towers. We decided that we would not stay the second night. We used the room during the day so when I said we were checking out early I did say that I would expect to pay for the second day even if we did not sleep over. To his credit, the manager said that they would not charge us for the second day and would make a reduction for the first day. He said it would take a day or two to show on my credit card account so it will be interesting to see what happens. He explained that they were in a refurbishment programme but none of those rooms were available when I booked. this may account for the few good reviews of the room I read on Tripadvisor. Finally, just a few words about the dinner we had on our first night. Really excellent! so credit where credit is due. Beautifully cooked and presented with...

I wish I had read the Tripadvisor reviews before I booked a suite (room 34). The gist I picked up from the reviews after we left was that the rooms were dire but the food was great, which was our experience. We were shown up to our "suite" which was at the top of the building. I had specifically asked that we had a walk in shower as we are elderly. There was a separate toilet in a small cubby hole with a sliding door but no wash hand basin. Next to it was the "bathroom" which had a bath, with a hand held shower fitting but no shower curtain because you could not stand up due to the sloping ceiling! I said that this was not acceptable, and a man with a beard who I believe was the manager went out of his way to find us an alternative room, which he did after a loing wait, so a plus point to him. The room we were allocated (room 32) was adequate in that it had a small walk-in shower, although you had to move around to get wet as the shower was so inadequate. The bed, which was supposed to be a double, was just a 4'6" bed with the hardest, most uncomfortable mattress i have ever tried to sleep on. It was a good thing we took our own pillows because the ones provided were old, flat and hard. After a very poor night we went down to breakfast, which was generous and well cooked. I asked for some marmalade for the toast only to be told that they did not do marmalade!!! That would not happen even at Fawlty Towers. We decided that we would not stay the second night. We used the room during the day so when I said we were checking out early I did say that I would expect to pay for the second day even if we did not sleep over. To his credit, the manager said that they would not charge us for the second day and would make a reduction for the first day. He said it would take a day or two to show on my credit card account so it will be interesting to see what happens. He explained that they were in a refurbishment programme but none of those rooms were available when I booked. this may account for the few good reviews of the room I read on Tripadvisor. Finally, just a few words about the dinner we had on our first night. Really excellent! so credit where credit is due. Beautifully cooked and presented with...