The Royal Oak Duddington

Clearly not ready for a good service . Kitchen equipment broke and it took over an hour to be served a poor breakfast . The 2 girls who were waiting on were run ragged with little knowledge of hospitality but were lovely. The bed was over hundred years old .

The staff were great.had a walk into the chocolate box village stunning no litter to be seen.

Bed wasn't horizontal it followed the slope of the floor which made the foot end significantly higher than the head end. The owner and staff member used some wooden placemats to raise the headend but it wasn't high enough and we ended up having to sleep with our head at the foot end. Mattress was very uncomfortable as were the pillows. Insufficient cooling provided by one fan . We couldn't leave windows open as there weren't any safety chains on them and they were easily accessible from the outside. The nighttime temperature didn't drop under 29c . Toilet seat was broken. Had a shower and discovered there wasn't any soap in the dispenser. Dusty windowsills and a headboard that you could write your name in the dust across the top. Cobweb from wall to wardrobe and another one across a window frame. We booked two nights accommodation but after one unbearable night we checked out and found more suitable accommodation elsewhere.Would not stay here again and wouldn't recommend this to anyone else.

We booked two nights and the room size was OK, very dated decoration. Not used to a double bed when there was room for a kingsize bed, shower was trickle of water and mould between the tiles, Rubbish was still in the pedal bin in bathroom and toilet was not particularly clean. No spare toilet roll and had to go to the bar to get a replacement. Paid extra for breakfast the first morning which was disappointing so went out to find breakfast elsewhere on the second morning

There was a revolting smell in the car park which we think was from an overflowing septic tank. On the Friday the loud music from the bar, which we could clearly hear in our room, went on until 11.13 p.m. keeping us awake. When we went down to breakfast on Saturday at 9.00 a.m. the door to the bar/restaurant was locked and we had to knock and wait to get in. We were told they did not know what time we would want breakfast and we should have been asked when we checked in which we were not. As other guests did not want breakfast until 10.00 a.m. they were not intending to open until then. (Hotel information states breakfast is from 8 a.m. on Saturdays). When we commented on the loud music the previous night, we were told the music had to stay on until all customers were gone. On the Saturday evening, we had friends join us for dinner. When they left at 9.50 p.m. we stepped outside to say goodbye to them. When we tried to return to the bar five minutes later, the staff had locked the doors behind us! (There were three customers still in the bar). We had to knock on the window to get back in. We were intending to have another drink before bed, but were told they were now closed - before 10 p .m. on a Saturday night!!

Felt this place is just hanging on by its fingertips. We didn’t see anyone else in the bar all evening and there were only two other diners. The food was fine and the one barman / waiter on duty was friendly and helpful. There was no breakfast available so we had to drive about three miles to the sister pub in another village, where the one staff member seemed surprised to see us. Our room was clean, if a bit tired. The landing and stairway looked like they hadn’t been hoovered for many weeks. Traffic noise all night from thundering main road a few yards away. We’ll probably stay somewhere else if in area again.