Central Hotel - Hostel

The bed was comfortable and the location was good, which is why I’m giving it two stars. The rest was pretty strange. It seemed like some people lived there full time. The cleaner was extremely rude, and while some staff were friendly, most were rude and unwelcoming. Bathrooms weren’t very clean, and the common room and kitchen were so tiny you could hardly move. WiFi didn’t reach beyond the ground floor.

They refused to check my cousin in because she didn’t have ID, even though I’d made the booking and provided my passport. I eventually accepted that I couldn’t get her checked in and asked for my money back since they couldn’t provide the service I’d paid for. They refused that too. My cousin had recently been made homeless and just needed somewhere to sleep and shower for the night. Being turned away with nowhere to stay was bad enough, and then they kept my money. The man at the front desk was the rudest, most heartless person I’ve ever dealt with. Thieves. After reading the other reviews, I think my cousin may have had a lucky escape, since the hostel sounds disgusting. Pay a bit more for somewhere with better accommodation and customer service, and avoid this place.

I stayed three nights, and the place felt unsafe and completely run down. I’m reporting it to ‘higher authority’ for investigation. It should be shut down as a health hazard. I only stayed because I’d prepaid and there was a no-refund policy, wonder why. There’s mould everywhere, and I have plenty of photos. The whole place smells damp and foisty. Mattresses are long overdue for replacement, with springs sticking out and making them very uncomfortable. The beds have old springs under boards instead of slats, and those old springs are still hanging down. I was on the bottom bunk and kept catching my hair on the springs above me. There are no guard rails on the top bunks, so it’s easy to fall out, and no ladders, so getting up there is extremely difficult. There was rat poison under the beds. I dropped my pillow and found it lying on the poison. There are five shared showers, but only four work, and none have brackets for the shower hose. Only two have hot water. People argue over the showers. On two of the three nights I was there, I heard arguments in the corridor about how long someone was taking, because so many people were sharing the two warm showers. There are only a few toilets: two shared ones on the first level and separate male and female ones upstairs. The first-level toilets don’t flush, and sewage backs up into them. They leave a plunger by the toilets instead of fixing it. The female toilet upstairs doesn’t shut properly, and the handle comes off, so you could get locked inside. There’s hardly any backpacker atmosphere, and not many backpackers around. The only communal space is the first room by the entrance, with a table and a couple of chairs that the same people on laptops occupy all the time. The reception desk faces those chairs, so you feel watched. Mostly immigrants live in the shared rooms permanently. They’re very aggressive toward backpackers, keep lots of stuff under other people’s beds, and get fussy and angry if you come near it. Staff were very rude. I had to leave my driving licence as a key deposit because I had no cash. At checkout, they handed me someone else’s licence, a man’s, even though I’m a woman. They don’t check IDs properly or look after them. I felt so unsafe that I locked my suitcase to the bed with a bike lock. The kitchen is just a sink and a microwave. The place has no atmosphere. That awesome paint job might fool you, but this looks like somewhere that once thrived and is now run down and badly managed. Very disappointed.

I travelled all the way from Newcastle for a music festival and found the place wasn’t as advertised. I paid £80 and went to look at my room. It had graffiti all over it, and men were sleeping there. I felt I’d booked a hostel, and wouldn’t even call it one. Spider webs everywhere, disgusting. There were men staying in the rooms, so you have to share with people. I’m 10 weeks pregnant and I’ve never been so scared. I was actually shaking. The walls were covered in graffiti like there’d been antisocial behaviour going on. This hotel needs to be shut down, and I’ll take it further. Do not stay here!