The Morritt Arms Hotel - Barnard Castle, United Kingdom     

Besides the above being a FANTASTIC, Beautiful & Intimate Exterior setting for a Wedding,,,, the overpriced Blackpool/Faulty Towers B&B Style rooms, chintzy bedroom decor, charging FULL adult price for a Child in a SHARED room......& Staff that do NOT smile..........Really DO let this place down hugely. A real shame I must say............

We stayed at the Morritt as part of a wedding party. Our experience of the hotel was not a happy one. Months ahead of time, I informed staff that my son has a severe dairy allergy and they informed me that this would not be a problem. On arriving however, we found that the toiletries included supposedly 'posh' MILK SOAP and despite our complaint we were told there was no alternative (happily I always take my own soap anyway, but imagine if I hadn't!). We also tried to arrange to to provide our own dairy free icecream for the childrens puddings following the wedding breakfast, but we were told that we could not bring in our own food but they would order some in. They served my son with diabetic icecream (?!?) and within minutes his mouth and widepipe were blistered, swelling and he started to have trouble breathing. We had to administer urgent treatment but the kitchen staff attitude was - but he's OK now though and it was only a few blisters, so what's the problem? He was sick all the rest of the day and missed the party and disco which he had been looking forward to for a year (he is only seven and he still gets really upset about having missed it). We are lodging an official complaint with Environmental Health and informing the AA Star Rating team. Some of the younger staff serving breakfast were lovely, but the older bar staff and the kitchen staff were brusque, rude and frankly incompetent. For example, we were told that even though we were residents we could not order sandwiches for our children for lunch (it was a really hot day, and they were only serving roast dinners ONLY. You're not telling me it would be that much hassle - I have worked in Hotel and Pub kitchens for years, so this total rubbish). I also had to explain to the chef that milk proteins are often added to ham, beef and are generally found in butter (duh!) and marg, but he stood and TUTTED when I asked for dairy free. ...and to top it all, they tried to charge us for food which I never ate and charged us for food which had been ordered by other residents for themselves and not for us! Awful - like Fawlty Towers but without the laughs. Certainly not the level of service I would expect for ?1000 for three nights.