The County Hotel Carlisle

The £55 price including breakfast was hard to fault, but I’m unlikely to return. I was puzzled by the complimentary earplugs on the bed, then found out why on Friday night: a live disco and apparently live DJ played from around 8pm until about 1.30am. The floors creaked badly above and below me, and with a hot room and sash windows that wouldn’t open at all, I had a miserable night’s sleep. The room looked tired and unloved, nothing like the photos on the website, which made it feel as if the advertising was for a different hotel. Reception staff seemed bored and uninterested during check-in. The dining room staff at breakfast were pleasant, and the buffet was adequate, but everything was pre-cooked. By an hour and a half after breakfast started, it was quite sad. At least the coffee was hot and fresh. Also, parking wasn’t free: I paid £8 to leave my car in their car park overnight, on top of the £55.

The location was fine, and the room was okay, though quite tired. The parking instructions were a problem. Reception told me to use the car park behind the hotel, and the hotel charged me a fee for it. There is a car park behind the hotel, visible in the photo I uploaded with a P, and the County Hotel can also be seen. But when I got home, I received a parking ticket. It turns out I was supposed to park directly behind the hotel, not in the car park. That wasn’t made clear at all. I had to pay a £100 fine, and the hotel accepted no responsibility or refunded the parking fee it had charged me.

I won’t stay here again. I called ahead about parking and was directed to Mary street car park, right behind the hotel. They told me to pay £5 with the hotel and that parking would be sorted for the night. Now I’ve received a £100 parking fine, and they’re saying it isn’t their car park. That’s almost twice what I paid for the room and food.

Staff were friendly and helpful, and the room was clean with a comfortable bed, hot water and decent pressure. The building is very tired and dated, though. The huge ceilings and a single 60w bulb made it feel more like a haunted house than a hotel. Parking is hard to find and there are very few spaces, so you can’t count on getting one. It’s conveniently located. You get what you pay for, and I don’t have any serious complaints. It’s a change from the small modern rooms in the major UK budget hotel chains.