Decided to have an overnight stayover on the way to a posh hotel in Chester. When we arrived we realised that the pub was having a 'smoke-as-much-as-you-can' competition, attended mostly by builders. It was a little like walking into a cancerous Village People convention.
Anyway, pubs are pubs so you can't complain really (until the law changes). We were shown to our room, which unfortunately wasn't quite finished as some pipework needed boxing in. We were given the choice of waiting or having another room (which we did).
Very nice room - huge bed and extremely comfortable. However, despite booking some weeks previously, the owners seemed a bit suprised to see us. The rooms were all freezing cold but when the heating was put on it soon sorted it out. Some other slight problems though.
1 No sugar on the tea tray - vital!
2 Shower tray needed unblocking after one use in the morning.
3 Renovation work in another room went on until 9pm - not a problem for us but not good if you have small kids.
The big problem for us was that breakfast was supposed to be between 9am and 9:30. This was a little late as we wanted to get off but we decided to wait. There is a huge iron gate between the rooms and the pub, which wasn't opened until after 9am (we had to ask). The woman who was cooking breakfast didn't turn up until 9:10 so we didn't eat until 9:45. There was another couple staying at the pub - one of whom asked for the vegetarian breakfast, as advertised in the info in the room. She was met with a blank look and was eventually served a full english, just without the meat. This comprised beans, mushrooms and tomatoes. only the woman forgot the beans....... and the toast.

All in all this will be a nice place to stay when the smoking ban comes in, when the renovations are complete and when they decide to serve breakfast a bit earlier. We felt like we were getting in the way of their normal routine, which isn't how you should feel when you are paying for a service. The nice room prevented me from leaving a "terrible" rating.