Skipton North (Gargrave) hotel

I booked a family room having previously stayed at a Premier Inn in Southampton and thought it was first class. On your website I saw the Premier Inn at Skipton for two adults and a 10-year-old child. The whole place appeared grubby but on having access the room my first impression was correct. Someone had kicked a hole through the plasterboard on one of the walls that crammed a double bed and two singles into the room. There was no lighting in the entrance way there was signs of mould having been treated in the bathroom and the room was so cramped it was difficult for us to move about. We had booked a meal in the restaurant served from six that when we got there, there wasn’t any food available till 7 pm because a chef had gone off pm. The normal full menu wasn’t available. It was only a temporary menu which was very limited not even fish and chips looking by the state. Of the temporary menus which have been printed off from staple together will Grove Bay and looked at if they’ve been in use for sometime so we abandoned that and went into the nearby village. The entrance to the restaurant was grubby and needed hoovering and two steps leading to a raised floor had torn carpet hanging from the riser To sum up it really spoiled our weekend, especially as I had waxed lyrically about the quality of Premier Inns. I asked reception about the state of the room and learn that they reserve these rooms for families . In fairness to Premier Inn and I rang the head office they took note of my comments and refunded me £71 but it doesn’t bring back a spoiled weekend

We stayed as a family for 4 nights, there has been a lot of mixed reviews about this hotel so I shall give an honest review. The rooms. The room we had was clean, the bedding fresh, bathroom was clean although small detailed cleaning was needed for example the extractor fan could have been cleaned more throughly. The hotel. It’s an older building which does need updating but while we were there they had decorators in painting the reception area so it is being updated, we also saw painters in the bedrooms and maintenance people hoovering out the air conditioning vents. Yes you will find grass on the entrance area and in the hallways. It’s a rural hotel based in North Yorkshire where people go walking in their walking boots and will return to their rooms with their boots on! (can’t expect the staff to be hoovering the communal carpets all day everyday) The restaurant. So for the size of the hotel the restaurant is large, one of the reception team told me that they were given no decision on the restaurant and they was forced to take it on and make it for hotel guests only. So as a result only half the restaurant is being used for dining which does give the restaurant an empty feeling, plenty of drinks at the bar. The restaurant however doesn’t open until 6pm for evening food and drinks, it opens at 6.30 for breakfast until 10.30. If you are looking for an early drink after walking etc then there are pubs a short distance walk along the canal. The food. The breakfast we had was absolutely delicious, the food was made to order which meant it was piping hot, all the usual continental breakfast sides were help yourself, fully stocked fresh and plenty to choose from, would like to mention and give recognition to Anna for her hard work and send her a special thank you for her hard work and bubbly personality at breakfast times. Evening meals, due to the staff shortages and what I was told then staff concentrating on bringing the hotel back up to usual premier inn standards there was and is limited evening meal options, we ate a few times but chose mainly to eat out, I do need to add we had to send one meal back due to chicken not being cooked properly I must admit this was a different chef from the one who cooked breakfast The staff. They were amazing and went above and beyond to make your stay a good one, again special mention to Anna. We will happily be returning to this hotel.

Don't stay here until it's been FULLY REFURBISHED. It's dirty, some rooms are diabolical. Even the inside of the vending machine in reception needs a good clean. Outside at the back looks derelict. Nothing like usual Premier Inn standards. Our room felt damp and it was good weather. It's a horrible place. Nice pubs to eat (thank goodness) 5 mins walk away. We had 'pretend ' lamps in our room, no bulbs no switches, just an ornament really..........

We arrived early hoping to relax in the bar as we had on previous visits before checking in. No suck luck bar and restaurant closed until 6.00pm. A member of staff suggested we return to the village to one of the pubs. It was explained to us that the restaurant and bar is now only open to residents for breakfast and dinner. Are residents not entitled to lunch? Later after checking in we discovered there was no TV handset, only one hand towel and the room was far smaller than any we had been allocated on previous visits. We have had really good experiences at this hotel previously and had been looking forward to the same again. How wrong we were! When going for dinner we were shocked at the state of the restaurant entrance. The doors were in bad need of a cost of paint. The carpet in the vestibule was covered in grass and leaves and both toilets were closed and looked like they had been for some time. We were advised that the full menu was unavailable and were given two A4 typed sheets showing the reduced menu. The bar had hardly any stock-only one bottle of unknown gin being available! The restaurant is big but only one section is now in use the rest being unfurnished. Dinner was fine. Breakfast the next morning was also ok. This was being cooked by a member of staff who also had to run reception meaning she was running between two buildings both to cook and see to hotel residents oh and to answer the phone. This is totally unacceptable health and safety comes to mind! How you can expect to run a hotel with as few staff as were there is a joke. We have no problem at all with the staff they were all doing the best they good under ridiculous circumstances and were all polite and helpful. We will not be going again.

Nice hotel from the outside, decidedly shabby inside. Extremely poor staffing with, on saturday night one duty manager trying to run a bar, a restaurant and reception! (He was brilliant by the way worked very hard and professionally in very difficult conditions.