The City Durham

Lovely welcome, great breakfast

I wanted to like this place. I really did. It is great to support independent hotels rather than staying in a chain hotel. Unfortunately, in this case, there wasn't much to like. The room was equipped with a broken radiator that was stuck on full so there was no way of turning it down (cue sleeping with windows open. In January. And even then it was too hot). The room was en suite, but the toilet made loud intermittent screaming noises at random intervals throughout the night, guaranteeing a sleepless night. A hot shower in the morning would have been nice - but this shower went from tepid to freezing in 60s flat. The light above the sink was broken and the paint is peeling off the paper-thin walls (yes I could hear every time my neighbour sneezed and coughed). Perhaps the final straw is that when I couldn't sleep due to all of the above, I couldn't even surf the internet as there was no available wifi in the room. I tried to raise these points with the management the next morning, but not only was the manager decidedly not interested, he also managed to blame previous guests/housekeeping staff/anybody but himself for the issues found. Had he been slightly more open to accepting that there was room for improvement, I might feel slightly less fleeced at the amount of money I paid to (not) sleep here.

Excellent location (just near Elvet bridge) for access to city, Cathedral, etc. Staff were welcoming at the bar. Single room was very small, at back of hotel. Room facilities ok - shower, loo, wash basin, tv, kettle. No noise from bar, but plumbing, both in room, and next door very noisy. Bed was small and not very comfortable. Breakfast ok. Place felt a bit 'well-used' e.g. all locks very worn, and a bit tired. OK for a brief stay, but unlikely to return ....

We had a few niggles but didn’t affect our stay and Durham is a lovely place with a great atmosphere

Very nice stay. The people here are nice. The room was small but I did not need more. The only negative point is the noise. I knew I was going to sleep above a bar but even after the closing time some people were singing inside. This is a nice place to stay in Durham, very central and the bar has a very cool atmosphere.