We had originally booked to stay at the St Crispin Inn around the corner from the Blue Pigeons and were a little sad when we drove passed and saw how lovely it was... But were looking forward to the picture painted by the website of the St Crispin... Until we arrived - what must have originally been an amazing old pub has been messed around with, there are bright spot lights in the ceilings, terrible loud 80's and 90's music (think MC Hammer and the Macarena) and the log fire promised on the website was nothing but a dull glow in a wood burner.
We thought we'd grin and bear it, at £85 per night the room would have to be something special right? Wrong. It was a nice enough room for £50 but not at all worth the money we had agreed to pay. We then noticed the huge leak in the ceiling and puddle of water on the floor of the bathroom. To be fair we were offered another room at £75 but a quick inspection showed how over priced this was too and that simple things like the bedside lamps didn't even work.
So... We left... Sat in the car we decided to phone the Blue Pigeons and see if they could help. The phone was answered by a lovely bar man who said he would need to speak to his boss and would call me straight back. He did. We were offered a room for £75 per night and so we made the very short trip around the corner.
The contrast could not have been more striking. We were greeted by Connor who showed us immediate a choice of rooms, all of which were lovely and streets ahead of those at the St Crispin Inn. We settled on the Vintage Room which has a great view of The Street and the church and Connor ensured the heating was turned on, we had towels etc straight away even though we were not expected.
We enjoyed a lovely dinner (excellent food and wine list) where we could not fault anything at all and after a very good night's sleep a lovely breakfast - note that the breakfast is extra to the room price. There was a problem with the water draining from the shower so when we flagged this we were directed immediately to another room for our use.
I cannot reccomend the Blue Pigeons enough and my one plea to the new owner is to not change a thing... Oh, and give Connor a massive raise - he is worth his weight in gold to your business... The Blue Pigeons is a great pub but he is the heart and soul that made it a special place to stay.
