Heart of England — Restaurant in Great Britain

Google maps directed me to the wrong place - turns out it was just opposite, however it was stormy and dark. I phoned up the hotel for general help. The person who answered was uninterested, very unhelpful and hung up on me. Once I arrived, I entered and there were 4 members of staff who looked at me and then ignored me. After a few minutes one approached and asked what I wanted. I said "don't know if I am in the right place but looking for Heart of England Inn" - the reply was "this is the pub"...my response was so do I have to go somewhere else for the hotel/inn...they then shrugged and muttered they would get someone else to deal with me. She then began serving next customer and ignored me without asking any of her colleagues to help. After 5 minutes another colleague showed up and asked what I wanted. They again were very uninterested and muttered - as someone who has trouble hearing I felt even more of an inconvenience. They handed me the key (without telling me what room number I was in) and gestured towards a door and went "go that way". I asked for clarifying directions and they ignored me and walked away. There was a lack of clear signage. I couldn't find my room and ended up having a panic attack in the stair well. Finally I found my room. Inside the room the bathroom door was hard to open as the lock was dodgy. The paint was chipping. When I went to check out in the morning there were no members of staff in the bar area. Unsure I waited. Then from across the pub I heard "hello" and two (presumably) members of staff were sat at a table in the corner. As I was unsure about whether they were staff I waited at the bar. One huffed and walked over slowly and asked what I wanted. I said just here to give back the key. They took the key and ignored me. Overall, the customer service was astonishingly bad - as someone who works in the industry as well I understand being busy and overworked. However, both evening and morning I was one of maybe 5 other customers. There were more than enough staff to cover the few customers there. This does not excuse the rudeness I experienced. I am extremely disappointed and it...

The hotel had a great location. We were staying as our friends were getting married at the nearby Dodford Manor which is two minutes drive away. We were warmly welcomed on arrival at reception which is part of the pub proper. Our room was much more modern that we expected with a comfortable queen sized bed, wardrobe with hangers, plentiful tea and coffee supplies and a little tv. The room layout was a bit odd with a large empty space which would have suited a dressing table or another wardrobe. We slept well with little to no noise apart from someone walking the floorboards in the room above in the early hours! We stayed for two nights and ate breakfast on both mornings. Breakfast was a selection of cereals, fruit and marmalade/honey and then a choice of cooked breakfast. We went for the classics. The classic was sausage, bacon (both nice tasting), a poached egg, hash brown, beans, grilled tomato and toast (which was very nice). We were a bit puzzled that on our first breakfast we were offered speciality coffee (i.e. latte, Cappuccino) but the next day it was insulated containers of coffee and hot water which was lukewarm unfortunately. We were in a rush to be fair and we could have asked for them to top up and I'm sure it would not have been a problem. Overall though I would recommend the food. They have some cracking deals and a good looking menu which I think we would have tried if we weren't at the wedding. Our room had a window that opened on to a flat roof which we assumed would be a fire escape but we weren't too chuffed it didn't have some kind of catch to prevent access from outside if someone was determined enough. This was the only real thing we were unhappy with and maybe needs looking at. The staff were great, welcoming and genuinely friendly. There was no issue with us returning after midnight from the wedding with side door access which makes it a great place to stay for anyone who is a guest of anyone getting married at Dodford Manor (and half the price of another local hotel)....

Disappointingly average experience, we have given this place a miss for a few years after a couple of bad experiences, but decided to give it another chance on a Friday evening as the grandkids were down for the weekend. There was a steady trade, but not busy, with a few empty tables. We ordered drinks and food at the bar, the only real ale was Hobgoblin, with no Pedigree in a Marstons pub!! The food took a long time in arriving, we had to send the kids to the bar for more drinks. During this time, it became apparent that there was a lack of standards, no eye for detail, there was a napkin in the middle of the floor when we sat down, this was still there when we left an hour later. Waiters were standing at the end of the bar on their mobiles rather than paying attention. One waiter had his meal break with a bowl of onion rings and sauce, and sat ON the table next to us eating it, on his mobile. There appeared to be a manager behind the bar, but he also kept missing the errant napkin when he came past us to a large table up the top end . The food eventually arrived, it was OK, not good, and not hot. 2 x fish and chips which werent bad, one burger which was overcooked, and I had steak and chips....which came with a raw 1/2 tomato, a couple of mushrooms, and a few peas. It wasnt impressive. Nobody bothered to come and see if the food was ok or not, and the napkin got kicked another few feet along the filthy carpet. We decided that pudding wasnt going to be a good idea given the wait for dinner, and left, leaving the crumpled napkin on it's own. Nobody bothered to say good bye or thankyou. There seems to be a lack of customer service standards, and no leadership, the lovely blackboards promise the earth, unfortunately the team...