My parents and I stayed here with a Shearings coach trip to Holland and Belgium.
It is a clean, relaxed and welcoming hotel with very friendly staff for whom nothing is too much trouble. The reception, bar and restaurant areas are all nicely decorated with up to date furnishings.
Our rooms were a good size with comfortable beds, a good sized bathroom with shower and good wardrobe space.
Just a bit basic though - no tea/coffee making facilities, also no tissues but it did have shower and handwashing soap dispeners.
However, one of the surprises was not having a choice for our evening meal. The food - soup, main course and dessert - was reasonable and well presented but we all had the same with no menu or specials board being offered. It was possibly because we were a tourist group but I have not experienced that before and have been on several coach tours.
The service was quick though with not a long wait between courses.
The horshoe shaped buffet bar for breakfast was not too well designed - being very cramped and difficult to get at with guests getting in each other's way all the time. We soon learned that it was best to get down 10 mins before the stated time to try to have fairly clear access to the food because as soon as more than about 6 guests were in the buffet area it became almost impossible - by the end of our stay though everyone had the same idea!
I cannot say how close to the shops or town centre the hotel is because we didn't take the coach trip into the town. The hotel is situated in a residential area and we always came back to it through this area from the main road. Also we took advantage of the excursions every day so didn't have the time to explore the surrounding district.
It would be interesting to read a review from someone who had booked this hotel independently, especially with reference to the evening meal menu and room facilities, because the specifications on websites I have looked at does state a lot more room facilites than we had.
We noticed a lot of suited and laptop carrying guests so concluded that it was well used by business people and reps.
There were canned drinks dispensing machines on each floor. Picnic lunches could be ordered for excursions and were well made up with a good variety of rolls, sandwiches, salad, fruit, cake and a drink.
The rather basic nature of our hotel provision was made up for in a big way by it's warm and friendly staff.