We arrived at 4.30 pm to find a wonderful modern hotel from the old central School of many years ago and next to the old Grand Hotel of many years gone where i did my train to become a chef, the way the developers have transformed the old school into a precinct of good taste with good quality restaurants in my opinion have done a good job. The greeting from the staff was excellent and very efficient the room was on the lower floor with very good furnishing and very comfortable beds, The heating was excellent and easily controlled was surprised to find the ironing board in the wardrobe a good utilization of limited space and no trouble using it.This was the first visit back to my home town for many years and we look forward to a return visit in the future to the Leopold.

I booked into the Leopold for a recent business trip on the recommendation of several local friends, but was disappointed when the outward facing 'style' of the offer failed to meet the actual experience itself. Things started badly when I was placed in a room 'on a far corner' of the building that was so cold as to be unbearable. Finding reception again was a challenge, given an absence of signage and intertwined passageways, although once I got there the reception staff were helpful and moved me to another room. Warm though this was, the 'design' aspect was poorly thought through and it was impossible to fit the chair provided between the bed and the desk. Best of all, it became clear when trying to use the iron and ironing board (supplied, usually a plus) that there were no plugs in a position where an ironing board could stand. Little things like the kettle switch not being able to be turned on when it sat on the tray it was made for, some rather shabbily marked/partially removed 'designer' wallpaper, and some poor final fixing in the en suite was less than impressive. This was componded by breakfast, which although nice enough was served in a gloomy room where 'a bulb had blown, and we haven't got one to replace it'.
Boutique and 'designer' hotels are all well and good, but succeed or fail by the quality of their design and their execution. The Leopold has some way to go, doesn't offer good value for money, and, for me at least, was just downright annoying.

FORTUNATELY the poor stay we had in this hotel did not manage to spoil the entire evening although it certainly left an indelible mark against the name of what I had hoped would be a spectacular hotel.

Located in the very heart of Sheffield and within an easy walking distance of any venue in the city centre, things do start well for the Leopold Hotel. It is contained, on its back side, in a pleasant plaza filled with bars and restaurants and the old building has all the grandiose of a boutique hotel. How badly it let itself down.

We were booked into a £90 per night Deluxe King room. As it is one of the most expensive rooms available in Sheffield, we rightly expected luxury - and at the very least for it to fulfil its promise of being a "deluxe" room.

It did not. The room is ordinary - it could easily pass for a Travelodge or Premier Inn room. The room, despite literature on the website and in the hotel brochure indicating otherwise, did not have any bathrobes or slippers available. The room, in fact, was very bare indeed. The complimentary bottles of water in the rooms comprised one sparkling and one still 330ml of supermarket-bought water. The telephone was disconnected from the wall and so, in order for me to complain about the lack of hot water, I had to plug the telephone in myself. Appalling to present a room in this manner to a new guest.

And so to the hot water. Or lack thereof. We were in Room 126 and the shower, bath and sink taps - nothing. Freezing cold. Which put paid to my partner's idea of unwinding in the bath that evening. I spoke to reception who had no idea what had caused the problem and so, after much deliberation, they moved us to Room 143 - clearly not a Deluxe King room.

An hour into our time at the Leopold Hotel, here we were in a lesser room than that for which we had paid - not only was the room smaller but this one did not even have a bath in it so that idea had well-and-truly been put to bed. And if the previous room had been akin to a Travelodge, we were now cooped-up in an Ibis. This was abysmal.

I telephoned down to reception - fortunately the cleaner in this room had seen fit to plug the telephone in themselves - and requested that we were moved to a room of the ilk which had been booked. No such luck, they assured me, as the hotel was "probably" fully-booked. The receptionist had absolutely no idea whether rooms were available or not. They assured me they would call back within five minutes and I foolishly trusted them.

I went down to reception after 15 minutes of radio silence and I was told to wait for 10 minutes as the maintenance staff were not available that evening to fix the hot water and the hotel was indeed fully-booked. Could you not have called me, I asked. "I am sorry, Sir." This quickly became a standard response to everything I said at reception. "Why is the hot water not working?", "Why are maintenance staff not available on a Friday night of all nights?", "Will I only be paying for the lesser room?". "I am sorry, Sir". It was becoming pathetic.

I returned to the room and showered. Uncomfortably. At 6' 3" I am not outrageously tall and yet the shower cubicle makes absolutely no provision for someone even approaching my height. The shower head fell at shoulder height, forcing me to squat in order to wash my hair. My partner, at 5' 5" tall, squeezed under the shower head with three inches at most to spare between herself and the shower head. She is 5' 5". I, on the other hand, barely had enough headroom to even stand up straight in the cubicle.

The bathroom flooded. Of course it did. Because the lip on the basin of the shower cubicle is ridiculously shallow, meaning a build-up of a few millimetres of water is sufficient to send it over the lip and onto the bathroom floor.

To answer what is no doubt an important question to many guests of "boutique hotels" (as reluctant as I am to classify this hotel as boutique) - the 'designer' toiletries advertised so proudly throughout the hotel's marketing materials come courtesy of Prija. No, me neither.

The one bright light on this dismal, overcast and rainy night of a stay at the Leopold Hotel was Mukhtar, a very helpful and amenable gentleman who did his best to assist us - and latterly to assuage us - throughout the time we were at the hotel.

I could not heartily recommend that anyone stays in this hotel unless it has improved very - and I mean by some margin - significantly since my stay. The wonderful St. Paul's Mercure hotel stands only a few hundred metres away and offers a far nicer environment with a far more pleasurable service than does this imitation boutique hotel.

Both myself and my wife used this hotel because of its location to the City Hall for the Billy Connolly concert. As a treat I booked a Suite expecting a room of exceptional quality. It was a bit of a disappointment due to it's location overlooking the main tramway which caused some noise inside. It was the small personal touches and the overall finish in the room which disappointed, if you ever stay at the La Monde in Edinburgh you will know what I mean.

On arrival we asked for a meal which was only available as a bar meal, the quality was OK but nothing special, there are very good restaurants surrounding the hotel in Leopold Square so go there for your evening meals. The hotel as a whole felt cold and uninviting but the staff were helpful and friendly however bar staff could do with a bit of training on how to mix and serve cocktails.

The breakfast room felt a little bit like eating in a roadside cafe but the full English was good and served hot.

Overall a nice hotel but pricey for what you get and not the inviting experience you should expect. Would I go again..............yes but I would book a cheaper room with the same sized bed.