Don't waste your money. Cold damp room of a low standard. Made to feel uncomfortable by staff, (also hard to understand at times). Their 'continental breakfast' consisted of a box of cerial, toast, a stale croissant and processed cheese slices that'd started the curl around the edges! Deffinatally NOT a pleasant stay.

Firstly I would like to point out that I have travelled the world over and slept in all sorts of conditions, from south American jungles, huts in India to 5 diamond resorts. Ashamed as I am to admit it, I never take the time to write reviews especially when good. It’s true what they say though - bad news travels faster than good.
Hence the reason why I have taken 5mins to review the Travel Plaza.........
Where do I start…………………my partner and I arrived late on a Friday evening to be greeted by a member of staff with very poor English, although friendly his English was not up to the standard expected of someone in a meet and greet position. We then had to pay £6.95 each (up front) for breakfast and specify the time at which we were going to eat which is a strange concept when one is on a weekend break. Last breakfast was at 09:00 on Saturday and 10:00 on Sunday.
As the previous reviewer correctly pointed out, the rather distinct smell of air freshener at reception heavily masked the damp smell that lay beyond the double doors to the rooms. Our room was freezing upon entering.
There was a decent television in the room along with tea and coffee making facilities which were nice and the bathroom, while needing a lick of paint was ok. The shower was decent too.
The biggest bugbear however and the main reason for this review was the quality and cleanliness of the beds. The bed was damp, the sheets and pillow cases were covered in short black hairs similar to what would occur if you’d jumped into bed immediately after having a short back and sides at the local barber.
Because of this, we experienced a constant crawling feeling all night long and to give an example of how bad it was, over breakfast my partner had short black hairs stuck to her neck and in her hair.
Which brings us on to the quality of the breakfast. There was a self service buffet available which was ok but the cups were dirty and the tea was only available pre-prepared in a flask. Judging by the colour of it, it had been there for quite some time and was undrinkable. The bacon, sausage, mushrooms and hash brown had all been deep fried and the only acceptable food on the plate was a half tomato and a generous supply of beans.
While present for breakfast we witnessed the chap who was laying out the restaurant dropping cutlery on the floor, picking them up and then continuing to put them on the table for the next unfortunate soul. Also no attempt had been made to clear the table of the previous diners leftovers, a fresh place setting was simply laid over the crumbs and stains.
We then returned to reception and tried to check out but as the room had been booked by a mate through booking.com using their credit card, it would have proved impossible to get the money back. Also there was a classic Rolls Royce Car rally on in the locality that weekend so alternative accommodation was very hard to find. As we were attending a christening on the Saturday and so were of the opinion that we would be returning to the room inebriated, then a second night would be less stressful so we opted to stay the second night.
We purposefully left the “Do not disturb” sign out so the beds would be left alone but returned that night to find it had been made up again and the same dirty top pillows and bed cover which we had moved aside were back on the bed again along with the seemingly fresh supply of black hairs.
We checked out the following morning, never to return.
I got the impression the staff knew there were problems and so were just friendly while burying their head in the sand. Such were the levels of complacency that we felt there was genuinely no point in complaining.
The main killer was the fact that it cost £104 per night though not including breakfast when the advertised rates were approx £50. Presumably these higher rates were adopted because of the rally that was on but to be fair, even if the rooms were clean and the food better, it’s still not even up to standard for a £35/£40 per night place.
In the UK in a 2 star place you shouldn’t expect luxury or plenty of amenities but the basics like cleanliness are essential in any star rating.
It wouldn’t take much to turn this place around. The Travel Plaza is being run on a shoe string budget and corners are being cut– and it shows with the quality of the goods, the food and the staff.
New mattresses, pillows, duvets, bed coverings, turn on the heating occasionally and hire some good cleaners and you’re half way there.
As it stands I would not at all recommend this place to stay, there ‘s better out there for a fraction of the cost.

We stayed here for one night and found the hotel to be very clean and tidy, with very friendly and helpful staff. Like a Travelodge (which it once was) but much better and nicer.
The restaurant could be improved - the food in the evening was excellent but the service was a bit slow and the very nice waiter's limited understanding of English complicated things a little.
Breakfast was a bit of a shambles mainly because of the communication problems but we found it a bit entertaining and we had enough to eat. The English breakfast listed a choice on a menu, but in fact you just got the lot with a fried egg - tough if you wanted scrambled. The DIY toast was a pain and tea from a flask not very clever. The worst part about it was a TV on full blast - which no-one was watching. People tried to get the volume turned down but were unable to communicate this to the two waiters.

We would stay here again if in the area but though we would use the restaurant in the evening I don't think we'd take the breakfast - which you have to book and pay for the night before - unless things improve.

This is a shed of a hotel that stinks of damp and it generally grotty. Even if every other hotel in the area burns to the ground, do not be tempted to stay here.

We arrived to find a garden centre type shed, and walked into what we thought was the hotel reception (which looked like a garden centre canteen). This turned out to be the Indian restaurant next door. We found the hotel reception and checked in. This took a while as there was quite a lot of confusion over how many nights we had booked for, and we had to get a written ticket to hand in at breakfast (served at the Indian restaurant) the next morning. Once we were through the double doors into the main shed where the bedrooms are the stench of damp hit us. They had tried to mask it with air freshener - which made it linger up the nostrils a bit more - but it was really bad downstairs. The room was a good size and had a TV and kettle though, so i felt a bit cheered by that.

But the bed. Oh, the bed. The pillow cases were ripped at the (tasselled, nan’s-sofa stylee) sides and the shiny weird bedspread had stains all over it, so i moved that to the floor. I pulled back the 'duvet' and the pink bobbled bottom sheet was so worn I could see the mattress stains through it. On it, there were numerous pubic hairs. I went to reception and was offered another room. The lady then asked to come back to see the hairs. She had a good look at them all and told me whilst some were pubic/curly body hairs, some straight ones were 'just from someone’s head like the cleaner or something'.

Anyway, feeling a bit embarrassed and revolted I went to the new room. This one was upstairs and smelt less damp. The sheets were white and not worn, but I was glad I'd taken my own pillow. I had taken some cream fluffy bed socks to wear instead of slippers and the few trips to the TV, kettle and bathroom resulted in them being absolutely black by the time I went to bed.

The breakfast in the Indian was OK. The eggs tasted like metal and the mushrooms were really wrinkled. I don't understand how they got them that wrinkled. The sausages has gristle in them and the beans were cold, but the toast was fine (as was the bacon actually) and I didn't die after eating it which - given the state of the place - amazed me.

We met some people who had shared a twin room there, and they said they had a similarly grim experience with general filth and horrible smells. They also said that their room had a laminate floor, and it had such a dip in it that whilst they started the night in two single beds well apart from each other, by the morning the beds were touching where they had slid down in to the dip!

I've stayed in youth hostels and cheap B&B's and am happy to have basic, rough stays, but this was just disgusting. The damp smell got in to everything, it was grubby, and the way they just hadn't changed the sheets was grim. The mattress was bumpy and the sheets were worn and nylon in the first room. I don't know what it is about salmon pink sheets and blue pillow cases but when they are a bobbled nylon mix with see-through patches and a stained shiny bedspread over the top it really puts me off.

I had booked in for three nights, but said after night one that I wouldn't be coming back. This was greeted with a barrage of 'well don't think you are getting any money back! You've had these rooms held for a long time!' repeated over and over again. I had actually tried to cancel earlier in the week but they said there were no cancellations 7 days before. I now see on the website that they offer 48hr cancellation, so I’m really annoyed about that too. No wonder they want money in advance or surely no one would stay. I moved to the Holiday Inn Express and it was lovely. AND cheaper. Apparently they pick up a lot of business from the Travel Plaza escapees!

Eeeuw. I'm no princess but this was just horrible. I can still smell it now. I have taken a photo of my mushrooms though and i doubt i will ever see such wrinkled up mushrooms again so that must somehow be a positive? Experience of a lifetime?! Ooo I have just noticed you can add photos to this. I might give it a go.