Grenville House

I expected the bare minimum after reading that the all-inclusive breakfast was toast, cereal, tea, and coffee, and that WiFi cost extra. I didn't expect to worry about my health. The curtains were yellowed and full of holes, the halls smelled stale, and the manager's casual response to the filth was as upsetting as the room itself. They said they were a 2 star hotel and I should have read the reviews. When I asked for a refund, they said they had no money and sent me to the booking agent. The agent needed the manager's approval, which she refused. The manager also said they change bedding between guests as if that deserved praise. The dirt was shocking, not just wear and tear in an old building. There was grime and staining everywhere, sticky residue on furniture, dirty prints on handles and switches, limescale in the toilet, and lights hanging out of sockets. This was quite frankly the worst hotel I've ever been to. Avoid it.

I kept the window open on an early October night, which made the room cool enough to sleep in. The radiator didn't overheat for me, though others had mentioned that problem. Unfortunately, the old spring mattress felt unstable and kept me from sleeping much. Power also kept cutting out during the night, and cigarette smoke was overwhelming in the halls by evening. It's a 19th-century boarding townhouse converted into a hotel, with rooms about the size of a small main bedroom and bathrooms added in. The bed linen seemed fairly clean, but the carpet needs a steam clean and the walls could use paint to cover the dirt and bogeys. My only real positive was the architecture, since I like old buildings.

The location was the only good thing. Breakfast was cereal, bread for toast, butter, jam, chocolate spread, peanut butter, tea, coffee, and milk, and that was it. The shower is joined to the toilet. It wasn't cheap, either. I saw a few rough-looking people at breakfast and only a few tourists, so I think they may have guests staying there temporarily. Should've gone to a Travel Lodge 😂😂

The staff were nice, but the room was so bad I can only give it one star. The place is genuinely run down, with dirt and broken furniture and fittings. Smokers were tossing cigarette butts into the stairway outside, so I left feeling a lot less fresh than when I arrived. Sometimes reviewers seem fussy, but that wasn't the case here.