Ye Olde Talbot — Restaurant in Worcester

We stayed here on a Friday & Saturday night late in June 2023. The weather was dry, humid and hot with very high 20's in the day and low 10's in the evening.

Ample parking was provided by an adjacent NCP with reasonable rates (at the time, £10 per 24hrs), The building is very easy to find with entrances on both sides. The hotel has a dedicated entrance which closes at 11pm with the main pub entrance being used in the evenings.

The reception staff were very friendly, welcoming and efficient. Pleasantries were exchanged, keys were handed over and clear directions were given for entrances, times, keys, bar/food information and local amenities.

The rooms are accessed via a single door in the forecourt before/after reception with a single floor of very creaky stairs to climb. The corridors and doors are also quite creaky, clangy and a bit higgledy-piggledy.

We stayed in room 15 which overlooks the rear/main hotel entrance. The road was closed at the time so through traffic was light.

The room was ample sized but, had a slanting floor. It featured a comfortable double 4-post bed complete with wooden roof, 4 pillows and a double duvet (no flat sheet in-between). The room also had a double wardrobe with iron and ironing board. A large desk with a chair and a separate sitting chair. Twin bedside tables. TV, kettle, tea tray and desk fan. 4 plug sockets on the desk and additional sockets behind the bedside tables. A connecting door to the adjacent room was also available although we didn't use it during our stay.

The bathroom was also of ample size featuring a combination bath/shower, sink and toilet with plenty of room for the larger person. No banging into walls while availing ones self. The shower was good. Hot medium pressure with a big fixed rainforest type head that drenched you. No good for the undercarriage though so a bit of yoga is required i.e. downward dog. The toilet was ok (no brush) as was the sink and toothbrush shelf over which is a backlit vanity mirror and a shaving socket.

The 2 windows to the rear were of wooden construction and sash style with additional sliding panes to provide additional noise and heat insulation. The sliding pane was easily operated however, the wooden sash windows were stiff, clunky and heavy to move. They only opened about 4 inches and the right one didn't stay up. The curtains were good. Excellent at blocking sunlight and almost covered the entire windows.

Room 15 seemed to be above the kitchen and featured a whopping great big air duct running right up where the main building chimney breast was/is. This was quite noisy from 8am to around 10/11 pm. It sounds like a road sweeper in a wind tunnel to be fair. Also, on Sunday at 6am the outside bins were emptied providing for a very loud urban glass clinking wake-up alarm. Then at 9am the cathedral starts it's bell ringing. It's only slightly annoying on the back side of the building / front side of the hotel.

The main issue for us was the room being above the kitchen and baking hot. It was easily 30+ degrees all night long. This isn't helped by the slightly opening wooden sash windows. The fan on the desk was ok but a little too far away from the bed to be useful. We dragged over the desk chair, took out the desk drawer and placed the fan on top of the upturned draw on top of the chair in a sort of hotel Jenga fashion. A proper, big stand fan would be the only thing that could make the room bearable as it'll never really be comfortable without air-conditioning in the summer.

Overall, the hotel was clean and tidy but a little tired and in need of some TLC. The staff were lovely, the location great and the amenities good. I wouldn't stay here again in the summer though if I'm honest. The heat in room 15 was just too unbearable. Even with a desk fan and the fan I bought for my bedside table it was hotter than our recent trip to eastern Europe.

Updated 29/06: There is no legal requirement to fit window restrictors in the UK. In fact, guidance states that window restrictors only cause hinderance when needing to...

I will lead with I'm an American woman, traveling ALONE for the first time ever. After a terrible and stressful time with flights I was so happy to reach my stay with The Talbot. I stayed in room 25 in the back corner with a lovely veiw of the cathedral steeple (easy to find my way in a new city). ||As an American, and a Floridian we are used to some comforts such as air conditioning and small refridgerators and/or microwaves in hotels. This you will not find here. HOWEVER, what you will find is a quaint, relaxing, charming, and friendly expeirence. ||The smell of breakfast, lunch, and tea are always pleasing and amazing to wake up to with a convienent pub downstairs. The food is nothing short of delicious so my best compliments to the kitchen staff. Budget appropiately and you'll never go hungry. Not in the mood for fine food? not a problem you are a short walk from American favroite Five Guys, a local refreshing scene Ottos, pizzia, chinies, and sushi. That said the wait and bar staff are nothing short of perfection in quick, easy, and friendly service. I never met a face that made me feel uncomfortable or nervous.||The housekeeping staff are quick, friendly, and very accomodating they respect the do-not-disturb (I am one that doesn't like people in my room while I stay if I can help it) but again no issues. ||Management staff here are friendly, and oh so amazing! Laura allowed us use of the conference room for a Dungeons and Dragons game (I run is usually virtually but finally able to meet my players in their country!) she was friendly and delighted to have a creative use of the space. ||Calem was a saint! He was always greeting with a smile and ready to help me with any request or question I had, never once treated like an inconvience. This man is everywhere and a friendly face I often looked for if I had a need of anything. ||The sounds of the bells in the morning was magical to wake up to and walking distance of bus, taxi, and train services made getting around England stress free and reliable. ||Down Sides|-Alarm bell across the way: there is no tuning this out there is no timing to it, it will just go off and through no fault of the Talbot just is. |-No fridge so budget wise shopping for food or drinks before an extended stay will not keep cool here. Day-by-day dining.|-Placement of plugs in the room: My bed was not on a wall with any outlets for my devices so is a very SMALL inconvience but workable.|-Street noise: Put on soem music or a film and it dies out quickly but there will be friends enjoying the pubs and shops.||Pluses|-You will not meet an angry face here if you remember to be a good guest. They are AMAZING|-Walking distance from EVERYTHING from historic sights to modern hangs like Arcades and Pub halls.|-Central for travel: Buses, Trains, and taxi services are all close by and convient. |-Homey and Quaint: You're in England one of the oldest places with the longest history, they respect and preseve it. This hotel being one. Things will be a bit "old" and "dated" but that's part of it's charm. |-DEEP BATH TUBS!! Look this girl loves to soak and after you get used to stepping up and down, after a day of walking the Hills of Malvern you're gonna love their tubs (The curtains could be replaced with doors or at the very least curved rods cuz boy they be clinging...

There are 2 elements to my review, the booking process via Booking.com and my stay. Unfortunately, both were sub standard.|Booking.com took £156.69 from my account, when the room was advertised at £105. I realised immediately so spoke with the manager the very next day. She was helpful and said she would help chase the 'error'. In the meantime, she arranged a £15 voucher to be sent to me from Greene King as a good will gesture. All very good i'm thinking.|However, i failed to make progress with Booking.com, shockingly terrible customer service, some might say making it impossible on purpose. But when i contacted the hotel numerous times to call on the help that was suggested, the manager 'wasn't available' or refused to call me back as requested. ||Then the stay at Ye Olde Talbot. Best advice i can give is, DON'T ACCEPT ROOM 5. Basic, yes i can accept that, as long as it's clean and functional. Silicone applied around the bathroom suite was grubby and discoloured. The bathroom mirror shows signs of delaminating around the edges resulting in a rusty looking surround. A socket in the room had insulation tape on it holding it together. The plumbing for the radiators had insulation tubing on one area under the rad, partly painted white, partly bare grey. Walpaper is coming away between the two single beds. The doorframe has serious cracks in the wood/plaster join. There's the remains of a bracket left screwed to the wall for a long gone appliance. I have the photo's if anyone is interested.||So, as you may have deduced from my comments, the overall stay was memorable, for all the wrong reasons. It's shame because Worcester deserves better, as do Ye Olde...