This used to be quite a twee hotel when I first visited it 38 years ago! Times and tastes do change. Renovation is required, brasses need polishing, and wallpaper needs replacing. Even though we were sitting in a empty restaurant at lunchtime (which suits me,) the staff were a bit loud. Large people would find sitting on the dining room chairs awkward. There could be more comfort all round too. Food is quite pleasant and reasonably priced, but changes in ownership means that former standards have not been maintained. Pea Shingle in the large car park makes it awkward for wheelchairs. The hotel grounds are beautiful.

Bouncy floors was my first observation of this hotel when I arrived with my family.

The Hotel is tired and needs renovating - in fact, it probably needed renovating 15 years ago - one gets the feeling that the state of it has gone just too far to be economically worth restoring.

If you want to travel back in time to state of the art accomodation from the 70's - then this is right up your street. Just be aware that it is rather tatty ....... 'shabby chic' is how the wife phrased it.

The food was OK ... we had a 1st night Dinner offer, it was a reduced menu choice - reduced even further when informed that there was no Sea Bass!! If you are offering a reduced menu you should be able to offer what is on it.

The Hairdryer in the room would have been the star item on the Antiques Roadshow - does a 1970 hairdryer have any value? The bedside lamp switch was buzzing with electric sparks until I tapped it and it actually turned the lamp on - I'm not sure about the safety of that switch?

The carpet in the room was well trodden and was threadbare in places - there were stains also.

The staff were great, friendly and chatty. I felt sorry for them - they must be as a car Mechanic must if equipped with a set of bent spanners and plastic screwdrivers! They are working with a very poor product and doing their best - it must be soul destoying.

This Hotel could be so great, so special, so inviting - it has the best kerb appeal ..... just a pity that the inside is as an old picture house living out the final throws of it existance, remembering the golden days when it was a great music hall ..........

The average age while we were there was around 70 - maybe having cataracts helps in the appreciation of the decor? Or maybe SAGA or Help The Aged give special offers? I'm being a bit rude now, but really it is a tatty place to be.

Shabby Chic sums it up perfectly .. thank you Wife for those two words.

Enjoyed our stay, but will not be returning until refurbished I'm afraid.

Booked before reading some of the negative reviews but was pleasently surprised. This was a budget break of 2 nights. Room 15 light and spacious, appeared clean, nice view. Toiletries re stoked on 2nd night, shower worked OK. Ate dinner one night in the restaurant - food nothing fancy but lovely steak and kidney pudding! Had a drink in the bar, prompt service. Check in/out at reception was fine. all in all, would stay again.

We have just come back from a 3 night stay at this hotel.

Good points:
The staff, when you could find them, were very friendly and helpful, especially a lady called Susan who at times seemed to being covering all the restaurant service and the bar as well.
The location is great for the New Forest and the coast too.
The hotel is clean and tidy.
The bar terrace is a nice place to sit in nice weather with a drink if you can get one.
The restaurant food was good, although not particularly adventurous, think roast dinners, chicken in sauce and fish in sauce all served with roast/new potatoes, carrots & peas. We cannot comment on the bar food due to the wedding on the Saturday it wasn't being served (despite being told by one member of staff that it was which meant I had a drink and then had to get a taxi to a nearby pub when informed 15 mins later that actually it wasn't)

Bad points:
The room - it was like stepping back into the hotel that time (and taste) forgot!! The hideous, frilly, floral curtains and the small, uncomfortable double bed (we were expecting a king) were not nice and the beige bathroom suite with dodgy grout and a shower under the eaves which at 5' 7" I could only just fit under just added to the disappointment.
The bar - this had less atmosphere than an airport waiting area, the chairs were comfortable but arranged around the outside of the room in quite a strange way, and in order to actually get a drink at the bar you first had to hunt up a member of staff.
The service - this was generally very slow in the bar, and involved the 'hunt the bar staff' game. There was a sign in the bar advising you to ask at reception if no-one was at the bar, not very helpful when there was no-one in reception either and the game generally involved wandering round in a hopeful manner pouncing on anyone vaguely resembling a member of staff. On Saturday night at one point it took half an hour of hunting to find someone, if you exclude the man who stormed past the waiting guests, went behind the bar and slammed the door behind him! We were told there was a wedding on, which apparently excuses ignoring all the other guests. When someone was finally located there were 4 different groups waiting at the bar and one poor man desperately ringing the 'ring for attention' bell at the front desk trying to check in! As she was a member or reception staff she immediately greeted us by telling us that she would serve us at the bar as long as she could find it, which wasn't that likely. She seemed to find the whole thing quite funny and certainly nothing to be concerned about. This led to us going out for dinner and for this we had to obtain a 'night key' in case we were going to be back after 10.30pm. When we requested one of these we were told that they were all taken - we weren't entirely surprised, everyone in the bar had reached the same conclusion that service wasn't going to happen that night - but quite what we were supposed to do about this was beyond us. Eventually she (quite grudgingly) gave us her personal key.
At breakfast the following morning we ordered a cooked breakfast and coffee and toast. I also asked for extra black pudding to get more than the normal half slice that had been served the previous 2 days. The cooked breakfast arrived with no extra black pudding, but extra bacon for some reason (not a worthy substitute given the quality of the bacon!) but the coffee and toast never materialised even by the time we had eaten the rest of the breakfast. This was the culmination of a farse of a stay and a this point we just checked out and left (although the check-out process involved one final game of 'hunt the staff member')!