The Rams Lodge

It did the job as a place to sleep after a night out in Manchester, especially for the price compared with a Travelodge. The floor was a bit dirty, though not as bad as some other reviews made me expect. The beds were okay too, even if a few springs were a little broken. I've slept on worse. The toilet wasn't fixed to the floor and nearly tipped over once or twice. It also leaked a bit when flushed. You get what you pay for, and I wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't disappointed.

My friend and I stayed at the Rams Lodge about five years ago, and I think my brain had buried the memory until I read the reviews today. We needed somewhere at short notice, about 12 hours before flying back into Manchester, and thought £30 was a bargain. We arrived late. Someone on the phone said the key to the hotel would be under a doormat and our room would be unlocked with its key inside. The place looked as though it could fall down at any moment. We didn't see any staff at all during our whirlwind visit. Nobody checked us in or out; we just walked in. The carpets stuck to our shoes as we walked through, and the smell was a mix of body odour and drug smoke. Our room turned out to be locked. It was midnight, so we tried the open room opposite and assumed it was ours. We settled in, more or less. The bathroom was grim, and we didn't even try the shower. We were reluctant to use the toilet too, though other guests seemed to have pissed all over the hotel anyway. We put on Piers Morgan Interview With Serial Killers on the 8" TV, which wasn't a great idea. Around 1 a.m., a man and a woman burst through the door. He shouted that it was his room, but understood when we explained what had happened. He sparked up a magic cigarette and helped us get into our actual room. He pulled out a rather large knife, jammed it in the door lock, and asked me to hold it while he kicked the door in. Then he told us to let someone know so they'd fix it, and went back to carry on with his wild night. Our second room was much the same as the first, except for a grey bin in the corner sitting in a large puddle of suspicious liquid. We somehow fell asleep and rushed out in the morning without seeing a single member of staff. That was our stay. For the price, it seems to be what it says: a cheap place to crash for a weary, unsuspecting traveller. I imagine the services it provides to people like the gentleman who helped me open the door are invaluable. There don't seem to be any more horror reviews, so it looks as if the doors of the Ram have closed. Whether that's for better or worse remains to be seen.

The guests were noisy, some seemed violent, and it felt as though a fight could break out. I didn't feel safe in my room at night. The customer service made things worse: staff were very rude and didn't care about my concerns. The room and corridors were filthy, the bathroom hadn't been washed, and the rug was covered in cigarette burns. I only gave one star so I could post this and help other people avoid the same experience.

This isn't a commercial lodge. It's a restricted property.