The Kicking Dickey

There’s a good range of food and drinks, and it’s a lovely building. Greene King owns it, though it isn’t a Greene King pub. It definitely feels like a locals’ place, so be ready for everyone to look when you walk in.

The good points were the location for Stansted Airport, free parking, and a generous tea and coffee tray with a carton of Ribena juice. I didn’t eat there, so this is only about the hotel and rooms. I booked an overnight stay before an early flight, but slept so little that it felt like a complete waste of money. I’d have been better off staying home and getting up at 2am. The bathroom smelled of sewerage, which made me feel sick each time I went in. The shower silicone was visibly mouldy and needed redoing. Both the bathroom extractor and the one next door were noisy. The WiFi password on the room sign didn’t work, and there was nowhere to hang a coat or put one over a chair, just an old bar stool to sit on. Sleep was the main problem. The mattress was extremely uncomfortable, and like another recent reviewer, I ended up sleeping on top of the duvet. My single-glazed window faced a yard where staff and kitchen noise carried on late, though customers weren’t making the noise. It seemed there’d be no chance of sleep before the pub closed, as the people working there showed no respect for guests sleeping nearby. Around midnight, a staff member threw glass bottles into a bin and woke me after I’d finally fallen asleep. Some kind of extractor or air conditioning unit in the yard switched on at random through the night, waking me repeatedly with its very loud noise, even with earplugs in. Getting to the room meant passing the kitchen extractor and its chip oil smell. I couldn’t leave the window open for long, so the room got very hot. There wasn’t much of a welcome from staff, either. I was just told there was no breakfast.

The staff really go above and beyond, and the atmosphere is great. The food is excellent 👌 It’s a really nice place to stay. 💯

Everyone from Redbond Lodge who lives there said they’d had a lovely lunch yesterday. The food was delicious, and the staff were wonderful. Thank you all so much for accompanying us.