Sir William Fox Hotel - South Shields, United Kingdom     

We had two family rooms and a single room on a Saturday evening in January and the difference in the standards of the room was significant. The single room was tiny with no space for a chair. The shower room was opened by a sliding door, had tiles missing, a fan that worked intermittently, a very univiting shower and the towel provided was threadbare. The sink was in the bedroom and the only space to put anything was a shelf over the sink. This room and one of the family rooms were on the first floor and the carpets in both were stained and the decor very basic. When we arrived, the windows in these rooms were open and the radiators off (not ideal in January). Whilst the single room soon warmed up once the radiator was turned on, the radiators in the family room didn't work. The young girl on 'reception' tried to fix it, but there was no-one from the hotel to help her and the room remained cold. The radiators in the hall were switched off and the hallways cold. The second family room was on the second floor was decorated to a much higher standard and both family rooms were spacious with good bathrooms. The bar door was a fire door and was permanently propped open. Between 1am and 3am there was loud music and cigarette smoke coming from the bar with no consideration to the other residents. The night porter did not answer the phone when we called to complain and as the second family room was directly up the stairs from the bar, no sleep was achieved in this room. The two young girls who covered 'reception', the bar and the kitchen were very pleasant, helpful and apologetic of our complaints - although there was nothing they could do. The breakfast was excellent and nothing was too much trouble. There was no management available over the weekend, but they did call to apologise on the Monday about the bar noise and smoke and have refunded half of the second family rooms bill. The hotel is tired and dated and needs refurbishing. We will definately not be staying there again

We had booked into this hotel via an online booking service, and got what looked to be a bargain price of £35 for a twin room, breakfasts included. We arrived at the hotel, which is situated in a charming quiet oasis of Westoe Village, just off the main Sunderland road south-west of South Shields town centre. A very attractive brick building, with a nice welcoming hallway. "Ah", we thought, "this is going to be good". Well..... Having completed the formalities of booking in, once we had found someone to help us, as what would in grander places be called the reception was not manned. I enquired if I was OK parked outside the door. I was told that this was actually residents only parking, but was directed to a parking area across the green from the hotel, and assured I would be alright to park there overnight. Good job I checked the signs, as from 07.00 to 24.00 every day there's a 2 hour limit on parking there, no return within 2 hours. Not wanting to find multiple parking tickets on my car the following morning, I went back and asked again. I was then directed around the South Shields one way system to park in the yard at the rear of the hotel; why this could not have been done in the first place, I really can't imagine. I then returned to the room, where “She Who Must Be Obeyed" was unpacking, though not undressing. On a cold day (+2 degrees outside) the heating wasn't on; not in the room, and not down the corridor. The temperature inside the room was +7 degrees. To put that into perspective, an employer who provides an office for you to work in is supposed to keep it at a minimum of 16 degrees. Pretty chilly, then. One of the draughty sash windows had a large crack running from top to bottom, which was not helping the battle with the arctic air very much. Other than that, the room was fine. Clean (if you ignore the previous occupants’ underwear and socks in a dresser drawer) with plain but pleasant decoration. And a rather fine bathroom, with shower and a large corner bath. After an hour and a half, the room temperature was tolerable enough to make undressing and showering a possibility. We left the hotel for an evening elsewhere in South Shields, and the staff were good enough to arrange a cab for us. We returned at a bout 23.15. While SWMBO went to the room, I sallied into the small bar to organize a couple of drinks. The very young guy working there alone obliged, and I settled onto one of the large comfortable sofas to await my good lady’s return, and enjoy our nightcap. It was not to be. Being somewhat warmed from within following a visit to Ocean Road (aka Curry Row) for dinner earlier, I had not noticed the temperature within the hotel. A very agitated lady came back from the room to report that, yet again, the heating was off. This time the temperature according to my trusty travel thermometer (which, unlike its owner, is not prone to the occasional bit of exaggeration) read +5 degrees. Cue two rather dischuffed guests, wondering if they might move to another hotel at that time of night. Further enquiries revealed that the whole hotel heating had been switched off; this on a night when the forecast was for a low of -4 degrees outdoors. Eventually it was put back on, but our room was not warm enough for sleep until nearly 01.00. The following morning, breakfast was good. No question. Even a request for something vegetarian friendly instead of the full English didn’t confuse, and some quite acceptable scrambled eggs appeared. We them packed and prepared to leave, although, having spent much of our night in what felt like a fridge, we were beginning to think that even £35 for our stay wasn’t a bargain. And we waited, and waited, and waited at reception to check out. While we were there, I could see that two lights were flashing on the fire alarm panel indicating a zone fault. These had been flashing the previous evening but, having as my priority getting some heat into our room, I had not noticed the significance at the time. 12 minutes later (my watch is like my thermometer by the way) a rather harassed lady came out of the kitchen at the fourth time of asking to deal with us, muttering about having to do a lot of breakfasts. We told her of the problems we had encountered, although I forgot to mention the alarm panel. So, basically, not very happy customers. Even less happy later that morning when I was called on my mobile by the owner, not to apologies, but to berate me for upsetting her staff. I was quite astonished by this, as at no time did I feel this had happened. I may have raised my voice a little, being a bit cheesed off, enough for the late breakfasters in the dining room to overhear, and I suspect that this was really what she was displeased about. After about 10 minutes of this, I really couldn’t take any more, and terminated the conversation. The really silly thing that the owner seemed unable to see is that (in the humble opinion of this writer) it would make more sense to charge a little more for the rooms, so she could afford to keep them warm. At £45 or £50 our stay would have been good value, and we would have gone away happy and, more importantly for her business, happy to return. As it is, we can look back on our stay from some safe distance in the future and laugh. I guess the old adage is still true; if something sounds too good to be true, then it usually is. If you fancy giving the Sir William Fox a try in the winter half of the year, just check out the location and opening hours of the South Shields branch of Argos. I found out (too late) it is somewhere near the Metro station. At least you will then be in a position to rush out and buy a fan heater, should the need arise. During our telephone conversation, the owner was decent enough to offer to send a cheque to refund us for our stay. As I write this, some 11 days later, she hasn’t had the decency to actually send it.