I stayed at the Littleton Arms for 1 night whilst on business in the area. First impressions were good - an attractive looking building with a reasonable size car park. Check-in was excellent; very friendly and attentive staff.
My room was clean, tidy and well appointed - but more on this later. There is free WiFi which is quite fast - but the coverage within the building was patchy, to say the least.
Having settled in I made my way downstairs for dinner and a beer or three. Despite the Cask Marque status, there were only a couple of rather mediocre real ales on offer. To my pleasant surprise, however, there was a good selection of Continental lagers on tap so I indulged myself with some of those. The food selection was reasonable, but far from extensive. The food itself was, at best, average and not very much of it! Nevertheless, I satisfied my hunger and settled down with more beer to take in the atmosphere of the place. I have to say, it was rather bland, although the staff were friendly enough. One noticeable issue was the poor staff to customer ratio - I saw at least two people come in, drum their fingers on the bar for 10 minutes or so and leave again, unnoticed by any member of staff.
I made my way back up to my room and settled into bed, listening to Radio 4 on the convenient bed-side radio/alarm. I soon found the room to be excessively hot and stuffy, despite the cold weather, and the window was impossible to open. The room was generally quiet - certainly no traffic noise - but I was sometimes disturbed by the sounds of other guests' TVs and various plumbing noises.
Breakfast the next morning was excellent; easily sufficient this time and with good quality local produce. Check-out was quick and efficient; the price was very reasonable.
Would I stay here again? Maybe - but I'll look around for other places in the area first.
- Littleton Arms Penkridge
